1.A 3-year-old girl with Wernicke’s encephalopathy due to a severely unbalanced diet
Sonoko Kubota ; Tatsuo Fuchigami ; Wakako Ishii ; Yuki Kawamura ; Yayumi Kamiyama ; Ayumi Fukuda ; Ryutaro Kohira ; Momoko Takahashi ; Yukihiko Fujita ; Shori Takahashi
Neurology Asia 2015;20(1):95-99
Wernicke’s encephalopathy, an acute neuropsychiatric syndrome caused by thiamine (vitamin B1
)
deficiency, is associated with serious clinical disease and can be fatal. It has rarely been reported in
infants and children. We report a case of a 3-year-old girl with Wernicke’s encephalopathy. The patient’s
diet had been severely unbalanced since the age of 2 years, and for about a month prior to admission
to our hospital had consisted almost exclusively of polished white rice and noodles. Her clinical
symptoms supported thiamine deficiency-related neuropathy. Brain MRI findings revealed abnormalities
consistent with pediatric Wernicke’s encephalopathy with involvement of the putamen. The diagnosis
prompted thiamine replacement therapy, to which the patient showed an excellent response.
Central Nervous System
Result Analysis
Print
Save
E-mail