[Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: two cases in intensive care]

Prion diseases or spongiform encephalopathies are a family of rare neurodegenerative diseases characterized by long incubation periods associated with slow, irreversible and invariably fatal evolution. In humans, they are classified as sporadic, acquired and hereditary or genetic. Diagnosing sporadic "Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease" (sCJD) is a real challenge for the intensive care physician, given the variability in its clinical presentation and its low incidence. The cases of two patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit are presented. After ruling out other diseases, they were diagnosed with sCJD with a likelihood level according to the World Health Organization Classification. Clinical and laboratory diagnostic aspects of the disease were analyzed, highlighting the utility of 14-3-3 protein identification in the cerebrospinal fluid.