Usefulness of CT and MR imaging in the diagnosis of acute Wernicke's encephalopathy.

Clinical Characteristics and MR Imaging Features of Nonalcoholic Wernicke Encephalopathy

“…So far, WE is still diagnosed according to the history of the disease and therapeutic effect of thiamine supplementation. 7 In 1998, Antunez et al 34 reported that MR imaging exhibiting increased T2 signal intensity in the periaqueductal regions of the midbrain and paraventricular regions of the thalamus had a sensitivity of 53% and a specificity of 93% for the diagnosis of acute WE. Recently, some case studies 6,[35][36][37][38] reported the analogous result that typical MR imaging showed areas of increased T2-weighted and FLAIR signals symmetrically surrounding the aqueduct and the third ventricle, at the floor of fourth ventricle, in the medial thalami, which was consistent with the localization of pathologic lesions.…”

Acute Bilateral Deafness as the First Symptom of Wernicke Encephalopathy: Fig 1.

“…Bilateral blindness has been observed to occur during the course or even as the initial symptom, [2][3][4] but bilateral deafness has rarely been reported. 5 Here, we report a patient whose first symptom was acute bilateral deafness during the treatment of acute pancreatitis.…”

Thyrotoxicosis Associated Wernicke’s Encephalopathy

“…MRI has been reported to have a sensitivity of 53% and a specificity of 93%. 15 The absence of imaging abnormalities does not exclude the diagnosis. MRI findings have been correlated with postmortem pathology, where areas of abnormal signal intensity corresponded to edematous changeinduced spongy disintegration of the neuropil.…”