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 3months, 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.