Catatonia as Presentation of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: a Case Report

Authors

  • Inês Silva Fernandes Departamento de Psiquiatria e Saúde Mental do Hospital Distrital de Santarém
  • Sara Carneiro Departamento de Psiquiatria e Saúde Mental do Hospital Distrital de Santarém
  • Margarida Duarte Serviço de Psiquiatria do Centro Hospitalar de Leiria
  • Alda Rosa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25752/psi.6432

Keywords:

Catatonia, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome, Prion Diseases

Abstract

Background: Catatonia is a neuropsychiatric syndrome, classically related to schizophrenia,  but  more  often  associated  with other psychiatric, neurological and/or metabolic causes.

Case Report: A 61-year-old man was admitted  in  the  Psychiatric  Department  with catatonia of unknown etiology. He was submitted to a detailed investigation including electroencephalogram that revealed triphasic periodic activity and cranial magnetic resonance imaging that revealed brain cortical and subcortical atrophy of frontal and medial  temporal  predominance.  The  patient was  then  transferred  to  the  Neurology  Department.  An increase  of  14.3.3  protein  in the cerebrospinal fluid, was detected and a presumptive diagnosis of spongiform encephalopathy was made. The clinical picture worsened with plurisegmental myoclonus, episodes of ocular deviation and dystonia. The patient died after 5 weeks. Anatomopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Conclusions: This case report reflects the difficulty in the differential diagnosis of diseases with neuropsychiatric symptoms, particularly of catatonia, and the importance of coordination and multidisciplinary synergy in medicine.

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Published

2017-03-15

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2016)

Section

Case Reports

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