WERNICKE ENCEPHALOPATHY: A CASE OF AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS COMPLICATION

Abstract

Hypovitaminosis secondary to undernutrition is presented with clinical diseases coursing with broad spectrum symptoms. Thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency is frequently associated with malnutrition, and causes serious neurological disorders as Wernicke’s encephalopathy (WE), and beriberi disease. Even though clinical trials have predicted the incidence of WE as 0.04-0.13 %, post-mortem studies have demonstrated a higher incidence as 0.8-2.8 % which means that most of the cases go undiagnosed. Treatment with thiamine supplementation protects the patient from all of these diseases. In this article, a case who was diagnosed as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis who displayed Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome pattern was discussed. This manuscript was prepared to attract attention to this potentially fatal easily overlooked Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome pattern developing in especially undernourished amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients with percutaneous gastrostomy (PEG) which may be mostly reversed with treatment at an early stage.

Keywords

• Wernicke encephalopathy
• Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome
• amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• myroides.

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