[Anesthesia for a patient with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease]

We reported anesthetic as well as perioperative management for a patient with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a very rare transmissible neuropathy. A 51 year-old woman was scheduled for extirpation of recurrence of acoustic neurinoma. Three months before the operation, she had complained vertigo. After admission to our hospital, she had become progressively dementiated and developed disturbed consciousness. Anesthesia was induced with thiamylal and maintained with 0.7-1.5% isoflurane, nitrous oxide and oxygen. The anesthetic course was uneventful and the recovery from anesthesia was smooth. Postoperatively dementia progressed and myoclonus of extremeties appeared sixth weeks after the operation. Two months after the operation, a diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was established by characteristic EEG and clinical course. Anesthesia for a patient with dementia was discussed.