Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease with florid-type plaques after cadaveric dura mater grafting

Many reported cases of iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) developed after grafting cadaveric dura mater contaminated with CJD prions (dura-associated CJD). They are known to be clinicopathologically similar to sporadic CJD. We report herein 2 autopsy cases of dura-associated CJD with atypical clinicopathological features.

Two patients presented with progressive ataxia and mental deterioration 10 or 11 years after neurosurgical treatment with cadaveric dural grafting, which led to their deaths at 8 and 17 months, respectively, after onset.

The cases were clinically atypical in exhibiting no or late occurrence of myoclonus and periodic synchronous discharges on electroencephalographic studies. They were pathologically unique in several aspects. The most striking feature was the presence of many prion protein (PrP) plaques in multiple areas in the brain. Some of them were the "florid" type surrounded by a zone of spongiform changes known to be a hallmark for the new variant CJD. The distribution of spongiform degeneration was also unique in that it was intense in the thalamus, basal ganglia, and the dentate nuclei of the cerebellum but milder in the cerebrum. There were no mutations in the PrP gene of the patients. There was no major difference in the size and glycoform pattern between the abnormal isoform of PrP extracted from the brain tissue from the dura-associated cases of CJD and that from a sporadic case of CJD.

These 2 cases are clinicopathologically distinct from typical dura-associated cases of CJD. They may be a subtype with florid-type plaques in dura-associated CJD.