NEOS Score (Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis One-Year Status)
The NEOS score (Balu and colleagues 2019) predicts poor functional status one year after anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, defined as a modified Rankin Scale of 3 or more.
Open the calculator → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.
Example
- Admission to an intensive care unit?
- Yes
- No treatment started within 4 weeks of symptom onset?
- Yes
- No clinical improvement 4 weeks after starting treatment…
- Yes
- Abnormal MRI?
- Yes
- CSF white cell count above 20 cells per microliter?
- No
Result: NEOS 4 of 5.
The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.
What the result means
- Predictors
- ICU admission, no treatment within 4 weeks of onset, no improvement 4 weeks after treatment, abnormal MRI, CSF white cells above 20 per microliter.
- 0 or 1
- Probability of poor one-year functional status, meaning modified Rankin 3 or more: 3 percent.
- 2 or 3
- No probability was published. The source pooled small groups with adjacent scores, so figures circulating for these scores appear in no primary source.
- 4 or 5
- Probability of poor one-year functional status: 69 percent.
- Timing
- Two predictors need four weeks to have passed, so this is not available at presentation.
- Scope
- A group-level prognosis, not an individual prediction, and not a basis for withdrawing or limiting treatment.
What you enter
- Admission to an intensive care unit?
- No treatment started within 4 weeks of symptom onset?
- No clinical improvement 4 weeks after starting treatment (tumor removal or immunotherapy)?
- Abnormal MRI?
- CSF white cell count above 20 cells per microliter?
Full field descriptions
- Admission to an intensive care unit? During the current illness.
- No treatment started within 4 weeks of symptom onset? Requires four weeks to have passed since onset, so the score cannot be computed at presentation.
- No clinical improvement 4 weeks after starting treatment (tumor removal or immunotherapy)? Requires four weeks to have passed since treatment began.
- Abnormal MRI? The derivation classified an MRI as abnormal on the referring physician’s opinion, meaning findings consistent with or suggestive of encephalitis. That loose definition is what was validated and is kept here deliberately.
- CSF white cell count above 20 cells per microliter? Strictly above 20.
How this is calculated
Balu R, McCracken L, Lancaster E, Graus F, Dalmau J, Titulaer MJ. A score that predicts 1-year functional status in patients with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. Neurology. 2019;92(3):e244-e252. Read the source ↗
A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.