Thrombolytic Therapy of Pulmonary Thromboembolism in Probable Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

ABSTRACT

The effect of intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator for patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) has yet to be determined. A woman with rapidly progressive cognitive decline, cerebellar dysfunction, and extrapyramidal symptoms, diagnosed as probable sporadic CJD, was complicated with pulmonary thromboembolism and systemic hypotension. Her vital signs were restored without brain parenchymal hemorrhage after intravenous thrombolysis. The presence of diffuse brain lesions in CJD did not increase the hemorrhagic complications associated with intravenous thrombolysis, which differs from an ischemic vascular event.