Clinical and MRI evaluation of anxiety as the first symptom of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: A case report

Abstract

Abstract. Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) is a rare, transmissible prion disease of the brain, characterized by prominent neurological symptoms and progressive dementia. Early psychiatric manifestations as an initial or sole symptom of sCJD are relatively rare. The current report describes an elderly female patient with sCJD demonstrating anxiety as an initial symptom. The present patient was initially diagnosed with adjustment disorder and anxiety; however, the rapid deterioration of the patient's cognitive and neurological functioning led to a diagnosis of sCJD. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance images of the brain supported a diagnosis of sCJD, and it was posited that the abnormalities of gray matter that were observed within the bilateral cingulate cortex may be the pathophysiological basis of the anxiety associated with this case of sCJD. The patient eventually succumbed to inhalational bronchopneumonia 5 months after anxiety onset. The present case report emphasizes the importance of secondary causes of anxiety symptoms in elderly patients, and indicates that brain DWI is a non-invasive and useful examination in the early diagnosis of sCJD.