Pediatric Neuropsychiatry and Immunology Program (PNIP)

We will no longer have a specific PANS/PANDAS program beginning January 1. After careful review of our clinical model and available resources, how we care for patients with PANDAS/PANS will change from a singular-physician led program to the accepted clinical standard of care through patients’ primary care. We do not have the multidisciplinary services needed to sustain today’s clinical standard of care in treating PANS/PANDAS program patients effectively.

We recognize this news may be difficult for patients and families, and our priority is to support safe, organized transitions for those currently receiving care. This does not mean current patients are being abandoned on a single date; they may continue to seek transition support through the same appropriate channels we offer while moving toward external clinicians or programs that can provide multidisciplinary care.

Our goal is to support a safe and organized transition. MGH Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Service, infectious disease specialists, and/or your child’s pediatrician will continue to provide care based on your child’s unique care needs. At the same time, families can begin to transition to external clinicians and programs that can provide the multidisciplinary PANS/PANDAS care that your child needs if that is preferred. Your child’s pediatrician or psychiatrist can help you through that referral process.

Please contact the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic at MGH at (617) 726-2725. For questions regarding antibiotics or immunotherapies, the psychiatry team will continue to
coordinate referrals to pediatric infectious disease specialists at Mass General Brigham for Children.

PANDAS, or P.A.N.D.A.S., is short for Pediatric AutoImmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections. Children with PANDAS experience a sudden onset or worsening of tics and/or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). While many children may experience strep throat, OCD, or tics, PANDAS is diagnosed when there is a close relationship found between the onset/severity of these symptoms and a streptococcal infection.

Have you ever wondered what the acronym PANDAS stands for? Have you ever considered how an infectious disease might lead to neuropsychiatric symptoms? Have you been unsure about how best to evaluate and treat someone with sudden-onset obsessions and compulsions? If so, the following case vignette and discussion will review these concepts and provide an overview of the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS).

“The goal of MCPAP is to improve access to treatment for children with behavioral health needs and their families by making child psychiatry services accessible to primary care providers across Massachusetts. MCPAP provides quick access to psychiatric consultation and facilitates referrals for accessing ongoing behavioral health care.”

Visit the MCPAP website

“The PPN (PANDAS Physicians Network) mission is to maintain the industry standard PPN Guidelines for Diagnostics and Therapeutics, foster continuous education and communication within the multi-disciplinary medical community and to sponsor research for developing diagnostic tests, treatment protocols and a cure for PANDAS/PANS within this generation.”

Visit the PPN website

The PANS/PANDAS Research Consortium is a group of clinicians and researchers with significant experience and interest in PANS/PANDAS. The PANS/PANDAS Research Consortium published four papers in JCAP, one is a consensus statement which proposes the diagnostic criteria of PANS, the other three are treatment articles which describe the best practices across the United States.

1. PANS diagnostic criteria consensus statement
2. Psychiatric and behavioral interventions
3. Use of immunomodulatory therapies
4. Treatment and prevention of infections