Conduction aphasia as an initial symptom in a patient with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Abstract

We report a 59-year-old woman who presented to our facility with conduction aphasia as an initial symptom which, within 3 months, was followed by generalized myoclonus and global aphasia. She had difficulty repeating words during the Korean-Western Aphasia Battery test. Diffusion-weighted MRI demonstrated ribbon-like hyperintensities in the bilateral temporal, parietal and occipital cerebral cortex. An electroencephalogram showed periodic discharges over the bilateral hemispheres, while single photo emission CT revealed diminished perfusion. After a positive finding of the 14-3-3 protein in her cerebrospinal fluid, she was diagnosed as having probable sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.