Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: A case report emphasizing the differential diagnosis

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) has various clinical presentations in cognitive, behavior, sensory or motor dysfunction. ¹ A male patient (80 years old) presented himself with forgetfulness, personality change and sleep disorder initially. Afterwards, he started to show many other neurological symptoms such as visual manifestation, dyspraxia, dysarthria, and myoclonic jerks. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain revealed the findings of cortical ribbon sign as well as basal nuclear hyperintensity lesion in both fluid attenuated inversion recovery images (FLAIR) and diffusion-weighted images (DWI). The results of electroencephalography (EEG) showed bi-lateral periodic sharp wave complexes. Deterioration in the clinical condition was rapid and relentless, progressing to a completely dependent state within 2 months. In this case report, we have illustrated clinical, laboratory, neurophysiologic, and imaging findings and details of the diagnostic procedures of the condition. We suggest that making the diagnosis of CJD is difficult early in the course of CJD.