Journal of Medical and Surgical Intensive Care Medicine 2011 , Vol 2, Issue 3
Three Iatrogenic Cases of Wernicke’s Encephalopathy From Turkey: An Early Warning
Atay Vural 1 , Çağrı Mesut Temuçin 1 , Ethem Murat Arsava 1 , Mehmet Akif Topçuoğlu 1 , Kader Karlı Oğuz 2 , Seda Banu Akıncı 3 , Osman Abbasoğlu 4
1Hacettepe Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Nöroloji Anabilim Dalı, Ankara, Türkiye
2Hacettepe Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Radyoloji Anabilim Dalı, Ankara, Türkiye
3Hacettepe Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Anesteziyoloji ve Reanimasyon Anabilim Dalı, Ankara, Türkiye
4Hacettepe Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Genel Cerrahi Anabilim Dalı, Ankara, Türkiye
DOI : 10.5152/dcbybd.2011.16

Wernicke’s encephalopathy (WE) is classically known as a disease which presents with encephalopathy, ataxia and ophtalmoparesis and is commonly observed in alcoholics due to nutritional deficiency. Recently, an increasing number of case reports and research articles in the literature has shown that this disease may be seen in non-alcoholics much more frequently than previously acknowledged. Apart from patients with cancer, hyperemesis gravidarum and bariatric surgical interventions, long-term hospitalised patients receiving total parenteral nutrition (TPN) without multivitamin supplementation are at risk for iatrogenic WE. Iatrogenic cases have been reported in many countries, especially during periods when changes in national health insurance policies take place. In this report, we present three patients who were diagnosed with iatrogenic WE after long-term hospitalisation and discuss predisposing factors as well as diagnostic and therapeutic issues related to this entity.  

Keywords : Wernicke’s encephalopathy, iatrogenic, total parenteral nutrition, magnetic resonance imaging