title: Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome following attempted hanging.
abstract: The case of an alcoholic man is reported who survived a suicidal hanging attempt, and subsequently suffered of amnesia, dementia, apathy and behavioural abnormalities. A clinical diagnosis of hypoxic brain damage was made, but upon autopsy six years later, extensive pseudosystematic thalamic degeneration and mammillary body atrophy were found, indicating a status post Wernicke encephalopathy. Precipitation of the disease is attributed to the synergetic effect of cerebral hypoxia/ischemia and thiamine deficiency.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Neuropathologie, Universität München, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schmidtke
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications*; D001284:Atrophy; D006801:Humans; D002534:Hypoxia, Brain / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008326:Mammillary Bodies / Q000473:pathology; D011604:Psychoses, Alcoholic; D013406:Suicide, Attempted; D013788:Thalamus / Q000473:pathology; D013832:Thiamine Deficiency / Q000150:complications; D014899:Wernicke Encephalopathy / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology