Affiliation:
1. Department of Critical Care Medicine, Research Center for Functional Maintenance and Reconstruction of Viscera, Wannan Medical College First Affiliated Hospital, Yijishan Hospital, Wuhu, China
Abstract
Objective Nonalcoholic Wernicke’s encephalopathy (WE) is a devastating neuropsychiatric syndrome caused by thiamine deficiency. Although many case reports on WE have been published, more studies are required to guide the diagnosis and treatment of nonalcoholic WE. Methods We retrospectively studied patients who were diagnosed with WE in our hospital. Data on demographics, possible causes, phenomenology, and diagnostic and treatment delays were abstracted from medical records by chart reviews. Results Seventeen patients were diagnosed with nonalcoholic WE. Nonalcoholic WE had many causes, such as gastrointestinal surgery, gastrointestinal tract diseases, vomiting, and psychiatric diseases. Most patients presented with abnormal mental symptoms, including those in a coma. Conclusion In summary, we recommend using operational criteria to diagnose and treat nonalcoholic WE as early as possible to avoid misdiagnosis and treatment delays. Nonalcoholic WE remains a clinical diagnosis, and certain examinations are helpful for this diagnosis, such as measuring serum thiamine concentrations. We should focus on patients who present with abnormal mental symptoms, even those in a coma, and administer parenteral thiamine before any carbohydrate to reduce the high frequency of residual morbidity.
Funder
the Key Research and Development Program of Anhui province
Subject
Biochemistry, medical,Cell Biology,Biochemistry,General Medicine
Cited by
9 articles.
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