Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: A case report

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) as a life-threatening neurodegenerative disorder is not usually diagnosed in early stages of the disease because of a variety in its clinical manifestations. This study aimed to present a middle-aged woman with psychiatric symptoms who ultimately was diagnosed as a CJD case.

This 48-year-old woman had progressive symptoms of depressed mood, decreased sleep and appetite and mutism which started two months before the first visit. Gradually, slowness in movements, dysarthria and decreased performance were observed. Subsequently, when antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs were prescribed other symptoms such as ataxia and rigidity manifested in the patient. The problem list which led to final confirmation of the disease included non-specific neuropsychological presentations, hypersignality in caudate and putamen areas in brain MRI, generalized high frequency sharp waves in EEG, and protein 14-3-3 identification in cerebrospinal fluid.

Although CJD is not a common disease, it should be considered in differential diagnoses whenever neuropsychological manifestations, especially progressive decline in cognition, along with symptoms such as visual hallucinations, myoclonus and ataxia are observed in the patient.