Diagnosing Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease with the Pulvinar Sign: MR Imaging Findings in 86 Neuropathologically Confirmed Cases

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) is a rare but important cause of dementia and death in young patients and is causally linked to bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Symmetrical hyperintensity in the pulvinar (posterior) nuclei of the thalamus (pulvinar sign) on brain MR images was described as a specific, noninvasive, diagnostic sign of vCJD in a previous small series. This purpose of this larger study was to evaluate this sign prospectively and further define the MR imaging characteristics of vCJD.