Diagnostic dilemma of cognitive decline in a young female: considering congenital rubella, depressive disorder, and moyamoya disease

ABSTRACT

We report a case of a 20-year-old young female patient from North India presenting with headache, decline in scholastic performance, irritability, and low mood, and having a history of hemiparesis, who had rubella infection in her antenatal period, who was investigated and diagnosed as persistent depressive disorder (PDD) with left-sided hemiparesis in remission with moyamoya disease (MMD) based on history, examination, and relevant investigation (magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] brain/magnetic resonance [MR] angiogram). We highlight the difficulties we faced in attributing whether the cognitive decline was due to congenital rubella, PDD, MMD, or a combination of any of these three diagnoses.