He immediately puts Susannah on IVIG treatment, a protocol he used successfully on another patient. Najjar next suggests that Susannah’s condition might be an autoimmune response. Without seeing her, he prescribes an antiviral drug and recommends testing Susanah for viral encephalitis, caused by a herpes virus. Najjar suggests that Susannah might have viral encephalitis.
Najjar has a track record of solving a number of mystery cases, and Siegel has confessed that he’s stumped by Susannah’s case. Unbeknownst to Susannah’s family, Siegel asked Najjar to join Susannah’s team.
Najjar order a second spinal tap for Susannah. Souhel Najjar, the doctor to call when nothing makes sense. Russo is their only hope-until Russo brings up the name of a Dr. Siegel, the physician on whom Susannah’s mom has pinned her hopes, quits Susannah’s team. When this happens, the person develops an autoimmune disease like lupus, multiple sclerosis, or the type of brain inflammation that Susannah suffered from.ĭr. On rare occasions, the immune system manufactures antibodies that attack cells or tissues in a person’s own body. Under normal conditions, our immune system creates antibodies to combat infections from foreign invaders like viruses or bacteria. This is usually a sign of infection or inflammation and indicates that Susannah’s illness is physiological rather than emotional in nature. Siegel informs Susannah’s mom that Susannah’s spinal tap shows an elevated number of white blood cells. Forced by this evidence to rule out most of the diagnoses they had in mind, Susannah’s doctors begin to wonder whether they’ll actually be able to figure out what’s wrong with her.ĭr.
Susannah’s bloodwork and autoimmune tests come back negative. Souhel Najjar and how he handled Susannah’s case differently. Susannah’s neurologist reached out to him before quitting her team. Souhel Najjar is a doctor with a reputation for solving medical mysteries. Souhel Najjar in Brain on Fire? How did he finally get Susannah her diagnosis? Like this article? Sign up for a free trial here. Shortform has the world's best summaries of books you should be reading. This article is an excerpt from the Shortform summary of "Brain On Fire" by Susannah Cahalan.
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