TABLE 1.
Prior Reports of Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome (WKS) in Patients With Psychiatric Conditions
| Underlying Condition (Age at Onset) | Precipitator of WKS | MRI Result (Reference and Page Number) | Patient’s Condition at Latest Follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anorexia nervosa (15) | 18 mo of dieting; < 1000 calories/d and no bread for previous 3 mo | “Within normal limits except for a slight widening of the cerebellar sulcus” (Altinyazar et al,15 page 767) | Returned to full level of premorbid functioning after 9 mo |
| Anorexia nervosa (16) | 16 mo of dieting; 30 kg weight loss during previous 6 mo | “Cortical atrophy and bilateral subthalamic hyperdensities” (Peters et al,16 page 378) | Improved at time of discharge |
| Anorexia nervosa (17) | 10 y of severe dieting and 8y of drinking gin daily | “Increased signal/halo in the supratentorial periventricular region, increased T2 signal in the medial regions of the thalamus and in the central and periaqueductal midbrain. Enlarged perivascular spaces in the basal nuclei topography, a thinned corpus callosum and widened cerebellar sulci” (Saad et al,17 page 2) | Ophthalmoplegia resolved; memory deficits remained unaltered |
| Anorexia nervosa (18) | 10 wk of self-starvation | Within normal limits (Sharma et al18) | Completely resolved at 2 mo |
| Schizophrenia (26) | 4 mo of medication noncompliance and poor nutrition | None (Salawu and KwajafFa26) | Improved |
| Schizophrenia (27) | 3 mo of medication noncompliance and poor nutrition | “Increased signal at the medial aspect of the anterior thalamus extending into the hypothalamus and the massa intermedia” (Harrison et al,27 page C9) | Mental status back to baseline, but ongoing mild ataxia and persistent vertical nystagmus |
| Schizophrenia (28) | Long-term medication noncompliance and 48 d of self-starvation | None (Tsai et al28) | Incomplete recovery of short-term memory, nystagmus, and ataxia |
None of these studies provided biochemical confirmation of a WKS diagnosis.