Marchiafava-Bignami disease, striatal degeneration, and other neurological complications of chronic alcoholism in a Japanese.
A Japanese man with a variety of neurological complications, had drunk Japanese rice wine (sake) daily for about 25 years. There was a progressive development of parkinsonism, cerebellar ataxia, and mental deterioration by the time he was 32. He died of pneumonia at age 50 and the autopsy revealed Marchiafava-Bignami disease (MBD), striatal degeneration, pseudolaminar sclerosis of Morel, atrophy of the corpus mamillare and pons, cortical cerebellar atrophy, pseudopellagra, and polyneuropathy. This is the first case of MBD in a Japanese related to the ingestion of Japanese "sake", and it is also a rare case in that almost all of the neurological complications seen with chronic alcoholism were apparent. Striatal degeneration seems to be a rare complication of chronic alcoholism.
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D001344:Autopsy; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000473:pathology; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000473:pathology; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010302:Parkinson Disease, Secondary / Q000139:chemically induced; D013577:Syndrome