Hashimoto's encephalopathy mimicking Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Angela C. Gauthier, Joachim M. Baehring

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Hashimoto's encephalopathy is a rare, imprecisely defined autoimmune neurologic syndrome associated with Hashimoto's thyroiditis that normally responds to corticosteroids. Here, we describe the case of a 55-year-old woman who presented with subacute cognitive decline and ataxia. Neoplastic, paraneoplastic, infectious, and metabolic etiologies were ruled out. Anti-TPO antibody level was markedly elevated at 966 U/mL. After one month of 60 mg/day of oral prednisone, she felt back to baseline and her Montreal Cognitive Assessment dramatically improved. Physicians should strongly consider this uncommon diagnosis in patients with rapid cognitive decline and no other clear etiology.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)72-73
Number of pages2
JournalJournal of Clinical Neuroscience
Volume35
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2017
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Ataxia
  • Cognition
  • Corticosteroids
  • Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
  • Dementia
  • Hashimoto's encephalopathy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Surgery
  • Neurology
  • Clinical Neurology
  • Physiology (medical)

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