Total tau protein in cerebrospinal fluid and diffusion-weighted MRI as an early diagnostic marker for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Background: We have recently begun to doubt the effectiveness of periodic sharp wave complexes observed on electroencephalographs and the detection of 14-3-3 protein in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) as diagnostic criteria for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) and the detection of total tau (t-tau) protein in CSF may be more sensitive diagnostic criteria.

Methods: Among 44 CJD patients, we selected 21 subjects that suffered from early-stage CJD, which was defined as cases in the 6 weeks following the onset of the disease.