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CASE REPORT article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Clinical Nutrition
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1505974
This article is part of the Research Topic Dietary Habits in Liver Health and Disease: Preclinical and Clinical Studies View all 6 articles

Wernicke encephalopathy in a patient with drug-induced liver failure: A case report

Provisionally accepted
Jiao-Jiao Cao Jiao-Jiao Cao 1Jing Li Jing Li 1Yan Cheng Yan Cheng 1Li-Min Luo Li-Min Luo 2Yang Chen Yang Chen 3Chang-Xing Huang Chang-Xing Huang 1Ye Zhang Ye Zhang 1*
  • 1 Department of Infectious Diseases, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China
  • 2 Department of Infectious Diseases, Air Force Hospital of Southern Theatre Command, Guangzhou, China
  • 3 School of Basic Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Wernicke encephalopathy is a metabolic disease mainly associated with vitamin B1 deficiency, which is common in chronic alcoholism. Nonalcoholic Wernicke encephalopathy is difficult for early diagnosis. Case presentation: One case involved a 62-year-old man who was admitted to hospital with drug-induced liver failure. He presented lower extremity weakness and progressive worsening of consciousness disturbance post admission, and was eventually identified as Wernicke encephalopathy by magnetic resonance imaging scan and deficiency in vitamin B1. The classic symmetric hyperintense signals on T2-weighted and diffusion weighted images were reversible after intravenous vitamin B1 supplementation. Conclusion: A high index of clinical suspicion is required for early diagnosis and appropriate preventive and therapeutic strategies by adequate and immediate vitamin B1 supplements in reversible stage of Wernicke encephalopathy.

    Keywords: Wernicke Encephalopathy, Nonalcoholic, Drug-Induced Liver Injury, Liver Failure, vitamin B1

    Received: 04 Oct 2024; Accepted: 04 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Cao, Li, Cheng, Luo, Chen, Huang and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ye Zhang, Department of Infectious Diseases, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China

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