My mother, 60 yrs old has been diagnosed with ADEM. She was in an induced coma for three days and since being stopped on all sedation has continued in her own coma for 7 days. An EEG was done yesterday and shows no midbrain activity. I have read many articles where people have recovered and rebuilt their myelin sheaths after plasmapheresis....she had plasmapheresis for five days...is this accurate?
ADAM is an autoimmune disease affecting the brain and spinal cord. Treatment of ADAM are high dose steroids / i.v. IG/ plasmapheresis. Primary role of these therapies are to remove antibodies from blood circulation. But those antibodies which already bound to brain tissue, can't be removed. Prognosis depends on the amount of brain lesions.