A Case of Wernicke's Encephalopathy Presenting as Acute Bilateral Wrist Drop

Kim, Do-Hyung; Oh, Sun-Young

doi:2014.16.1.27

Ann Clin Neurophysiol > 2014 ;16(1) > Article
CASE REPORT
Ann Clin Neurophysiol. 2014; 16(1): 27-31. Published online June 30, 2014. doi: https://doi.org/10.14253/kjcn.2014.16.1.27

A Case of Wernicke's Encephalopathy Presenting as Acute Bilateral Wrist Drop

Do-Hyung Kim², and Sun-Young Oh^1,2

¹Department of Neurology, Chonbuk National University College of Medicine, Jeonju
²Biomedical Research Institute of Chonbuk National University Hospital, Jeonju, Korea

Corresponding Author: Sun-Young Oh ,Tel: +82-63-250-1590, Fax: +82-63-251-9363, Email: ohsun@jbnu.ac.kr

Received September 18, 2013 Accepted May 14, 2014

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

Thiamine deficiency can cause peripheral polyneuropathy and Wernicke’s encephalopathy. Wernicke’s encephalopathy is characterized by ataxia, ophthalmoplegia, nystagmus, and confusion, and typically presents acute and rapidly progressive course, whereas peripheral neuropathy associated with thiamine deficiency manifests chronic and slowly progressive one. However, acute and rapidly progressive axonal polyneuropathy combined with Wernicke’s encephalopathy is quite rare and unusual. Here, we describe a patient with Wernicke’s encephalopathy who presented with acute bilateral axonal neuropathy.

Key words: Wernicke's encephalopathy, Acute axonal polyneuropathy, Thiamine