Stiff person syndrome and prior temporal lobectomy: Is it a case of misplaced autoimmunity?

Abstract

Stiff person syndrome (SPS) is a rare autoimmune disorder, with incidence of 1-2 persons per million. 1 It is characterized by progressive muscle stiffness, rigidity, and spasms affecting the axial and limb muscles. 2,3 Heightened sensitivity to stimuli such as noise, touch, and emotional distress, which can then set off muscle spasms, has also been noted. The result is increased muscle activity that can often be confused for seizures or psychogenic non-epileptic seizures.Autoantibodies against glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) are considered fundamental to SPS pathogenesis, and several other autoimmune diseases are associated with elevated GAD antibody