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Alcohol Induced Neurocognitive Impairment (Wernicke - Korsakoff): A Hidden Syndrome

Received: 23 December 2014     Accepted: 28 December 2014     Published: 8 February 2015
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Abstract

Wernicke’s encephalopathy (WE) is an acute neuro-psychiatric syndrome due to inadequate supply of thiamine (vitamin B1) to the brain which leads to significant morbidity and mortality. Although alcohol use is the most common predisposing factor but Wernicke’s encephalopathy can occur in any patient with nutritional deficiency conditions such as hyperemesis gravidarum, hemodialysis, malignancy, use of total parenteral nutrition without adequate thiamine, and abdominal surgery. In a developing country, there are more chances of thiamine deficiency, because of poor intake of nutrients in routine diet due to economic reasons and local customs and cultural practices concerning the processing and cooking of rice and other foodstuffs. The national household survey of drug use in India (2004) found prevalence of alcohol use in about 21.4% of male population between 18-40 age group. Most of the emergency physicians and general practitioners are not well sensitized about neuropsychiatric disorders in patients with alcohol use disorders. Such patients are still under diagnosed. Till date, no such studies are available about treatment of wernicke-korsakoff syndrome in Indian population. Educating clinicians, specially emergency physicians about evaluation and treatment of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is as important as to educate people to eat well balanced, mixed diet containing thiamine rich food as most of these patients receive emergency treatment but are frequently unrecognized. If undiagnosed or inadequately treated, it is likely to proceed to Korsakoff syndrome. Therefore best treatment for Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is prompt diagnosis and adequate treatment.

Published in Clinical Medicine Research (Volume 4, Issue 2-1)

This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Research in Dementia

DOI 10.11648/j.cmr.s.2015040201.13
Page(s) 15-23
Creative Commons

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

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Alcohol, Wernicke’s encephalopathy, Thiamine (Vitamin B1), Korsakoff Syndrome, Neurocognitive Impairment, Treatment

References
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    Prabhoo Dayal, Ankur Sachdeva, Mina Chandra, Kishore Hindustani, Kuljeet Singh Anand. (2015). Alcohol Induced Neurocognitive Impairment (Wernicke - Korsakoff): A Hidden Syndrome. Clinical Medicine Research, 4(2-1), 15-23. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cmr.s.2015040201.13

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    ACS Style

    Prabhoo Dayal; Ankur Sachdeva; Mina Chandra; Kishore Hindustani; Kuljeet Singh Anand. Alcohol Induced Neurocognitive Impairment (Wernicke - Korsakoff): A Hidden Syndrome. Clin. Med. Res. 2015, 4(2-1), 15-23. doi: 10.11648/j.cmr.s.2015040201.13

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    AMA Style

    Prabhoo Dayal, Ankur Sachdeva, Mina Chandra, Kishore Hindustani, Kuljeet Singh Anand. Alcohol Induced Neurocognitive Impairment (Wernicke - Korsakoff): A Hidden Syndrome. Clin Med Res. 2015;4(2-1):15-23. doi: 10.11648/j.cmr.s.2015040201.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.cmr.s.2015040201.13,
      author = {Prabhoo Dayal and Ankur Sachdeva and Mina Chandra and Kishore Hindustani and Kuljeet Singh Anand},
      title = {Alcohol Induced Neurocognitive Impairment (Wernicke - Korsakoff): A Hidden Syndrome},
      journal = {Clinical Medicine Research},
      volume = {4},
      number = {2-1},
      pages = {15-23},
      doi = {10.11648/j.cmr.s.2015040201.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cmr.s.2015040201.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.cmr.s.2015040201.13},
      abstract = {Wernicke’s encephalopathy (WE) is an acute neuro-psychiatric syndrome due to inadequate supply of thiamine (vitamin B1) to the brain which leads to significant morbidity and mortality. Although alcohol use is the most common predisposing factor but Wernicke’s encephalopathy can occur in any patient with nutritional deficiency conditions such as hyperemesis gravidarum, hemodialysis, malignancy, use of total parenteral nutrition without adequate thiamine, and abdominal surgery. In a developing country, there are more chances of thiamine deficiency, because of poor intake of nutrients in routine diet due to economic reasons and local customs and cultural practices concerning the processing and cooking of rice and other foodstuffs. The national household survey of drug use in India (2004) found prevalence of alcohol use in about 21.4% of male population between 18-40 age group. Most of the emergency physicians and general practitioners are not well sensitized about neuropsychiatric disorders in patients with alcohol use disorders. Such patients are still under diagnosed. Till date, no such studies are available about treatment of wernicke-korsakoff syndrome in Indian population. Educating clinicians, specially emergency physicians about evaluation and treatment of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is as important as to educate people to eat well balanced, mixed diet containing thiamine rich food as most of these patients receive emergency treatment but are frequently unrecognized. If undiagnosed or inadequately treated, it is likely to proceed to Korsakoff syndrome. Therefore best treatment for Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is prompt diagnosis and adequate treatment.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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    T1  - Alcohol Induced Neurocognitive Impairment (Wernicke - Korsakoff): A Hidden Syndrome
    AU  - Prabhoo Dayal
    AU  - Ankur Sachdeva
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    AB  - Wernicke’s encephalopathy (WE) is an acute neuro-psychiatric syndrome due to inadequate supply of thiamine (vitamin B1) to the brain which leads to significant morbidity and mortality. Although alcohol use is the most common predisposing factor but Wernicke’s encephalopathy can occur in any patient with nutritional deficiency conditions such as hyperemesis gravidarum, hemodialysis, malignancy, use of total parenteral nutrition without adequate thiamine, and abdominal surgery. In a developing country, there are more chances of thiamine deficiency, because of poor intake of nutrients in routine diet due to economic reasons and local customs and cultural practices concerning the processing and cooking of rice and other foodstuffs. The national household survey of drug use in India (2004) found prevalence of alcohol use in about 21.4% of male population between 18-40 age group. Most of the emergency physicians and general practitioners are not well sensitized about neuropsychiatric disorders in patients with alcohol use disorders. Such patients are still under diagnosed. Till date, no such studies are available about treatment of wernicke-korsakoff syndrome in Indian population. Educating clinicians, specially emergency physicians about evaluation and treatment of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is as important as to educate people to eat well balanced, mixed diet containing thiamine rich food as most of these patients receive emergency treatment but are frequently unrecognized. If undiagnosed or inadequately treated, it is likely to proceed to Korsakoff syndrome. Therefore best treatment for Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is prompt diagnosis and adequate treatment.
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Author Information
  • National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (WHO Collaborating centre), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Ansari Nagar, New Delhi-110029, India

  • National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (WHO Collaborating centre), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Ansari Nagar, New Delhi-110029, India

  • Department of Psychiatry and Drug De-addiction, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & and Research (PGIMER) and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi-110001, India

  • Department of Psychiatry, VMMC and Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi, India

  • Department of Neurology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & and Research (PGIMER) and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi-110001, India

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