title: Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: a rare cause of rapid cognitive decline in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus.
abstract: An immunocompromised patient with non-specific neurological symptoms and signs, along with rapid cognitive decline evolving over three to four weeks, can present a diagnostic challenge. Here we report rapidly progressive dementia in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus, who was subsequently diagnosed with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD). This case illustrates the need for prompt investigations to consider an alternative diagnosis where significant history fails to yield an explanation. A diagnosis of sCJD drastically alters the prognosis in a subject with a well-controlled connective tissue disease who is otherwise fit and well.
authors.affiliation: Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester, UK.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Costello
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Phadke
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shah
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000150:complications*