Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T08:45:23.797Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Case 23 - Thiamine for dementia in a young woman

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2011

Serge Gauthier
Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
Pedro Rosa-Neto
Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
Get access

Summary

This chapter talks about a 39-year-old woman who was reported to the "German National Reference Center for the Surveillance of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies" (NRC). The patient's medical history comprised allergic asthma, hyperlipidemia, nasal sinus surgery, and pulmonary embolism. The family's medical history comprised allergies, asthma, and psoriasis, cerebrovascular disease, colon cancer, but no early onset dementia. The combination of rapidly progressive dementia, psychosyndrome, ataxia, visual disturbances, and the Pulvinar Sign revealed by MRI as well as the exclusion of encephalitis or many other possible causes of that symptom constellation made the involved physicians consider a prion disease, namely variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, as a differential diagnosis. Rapidly progressive dementia, the "Hockey Sticks" and the exclusion of encephalitis led to the diagnosis of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in the first place. Wernicke's disease was not as strongly considered initially since the patient was non-alcoholic.
Type
Chapter
Information
Case Studies in Dementia
Common and Uncommon Presentations
, pp. 172 - 179
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×