Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Thailand: A Case Series and Review of the Literature

Abstract

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) is an incurable and inevitably fatal neurodegenerative disorder. Although CJD has a worldwide distribution, there are no official statistics on CJD in Thailand. A diagnosis of CJD is suspected when a patient develops rapidly progressive dementia with myoclonus. However, CJD may be mistaken for a variety of illnesses because its initial presentation frequently consists of non-specific symptoms. Here, we examined cases of sporadic CJD (sCJD) from Thammasat University Hospital (a tertiary care hospital in Thailand) between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2014. Three cases of probable and possible sCJD were collected. All cases presented with rapidly progressive cognitive dysfunction accompanied by spontaneous myoclonus. Classical electroencehalography changes and typical abnormal MRI features were observed. All of the cases died within a period of 8 months. None of the patients underwent brain biopsy. Our findings raise questions about the prevalence of CJD in Thailand, which needs further study.