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Abstract
We studied the rare case of an older adult with dementia following herpes zoster encephalitis (HZE). This 71-year-old woman presented to us approximately 1 year following resolution of a rapid-onset episode of HZE, and subsequently underwent neuropsychological and neuroimaging examinations. Cognitive assessment revealed impairments in general cognitive functioning, verbal and nonverbal memory, executive functions, speed of information processing, attention/working memory, and motor skills. The patient's neuroimaging data, when compared to a demographically similar healthy control sample (n = 9), demonstrated moderate central and perisylvian brain volume loss, several subcortical lesions in the white matter, and resting state whole brain and hippocampal hypoperfusion. These findings highlight neuropsychological changes evident in a dementia syndrome of this type, and they suggest that early identification and treatment of HZE has implications for the preservation of long-term cognitive functioning.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of staff, patients, and volunteers of the UCSD Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (F31 NS059193 [KJB], P50 AG05131 [DPS], K24 AG026431, RO1 AG012674, and by grant IIRG-07-59343 from the Alzheimer's Association [MWB]). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Alzheimer's Association or the National Institutes of Health.