Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome Misdiagnosed as Recurrent Stroke: A Case Report

Abstract

While sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) typically presents with neurological symptoms such as cognitive impairment, ataxia, and myoclonus, its clinical manifestations can be diverse. We report a 70-year-old woman with sCJD who was misdiagnosed with recurrent stroke. She initially showed hemiplegia and high-intensity signals on brain diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI), which corresponded to the symptoms of a stroke. She was diagnosed with recurrent stroke as her muscle weakness showed stepwise deterioration, with the appearance of additional high-intensity signals on brain DWI. Several days later, she developed Broca’s aphasia, cognitive impairment, and myoclonus in the right upper and left lower extremities. Brain DWI showed high-intensity signals in the cortex, caudate nucleus, and putamen. Therefore, sCJD was suspected; she subsequently underwent further evaluation and was diagnosed with sCJD. The findings of this case indicate that sCJD can have a clinical course similar to that of recurrent stroke.

Keywords

• creutzfeldt-jakob syndrome
• paresis
• stroke