[Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: magnetic resonance imaging findings]

To show the usefulness of magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CDJ) and to familiarize the radiologist with the characteristic imaging findings for this entity.

We retrospectively studied six patients diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease at our center from 2004 through 2008. We reviewed the clinical, laboratory, electroencephalographic, and imaging findings in each case, and we correlated the results with the autopsy findings or with the World Health Organization's criteria for CDJ in the cases for which histopathological data were not available.

Of the six patients diagnosed with CDJ, autopsy findings confirming the diagnosis were available in four patients and the other two patients fulfilled the World Health Organization's criteria for the diagnosis (one classified as probable and other as possible). In all cases, we observed characteristic alterations on magnetic resonance imaging at the level of the cortex and/or basal ganglia. These alterations were detected in the initial clinical phases.

Radiologists should be familiar with the characteristic alterations of CDJ at magnetic resonance imaging to enable the early diagnosis of this entity.