Wernicke's encephalopathy-like lesions in global cerebral hypoxia.
We report a patient with severe hypoxic encephalopathy after cardiac arrest, in which lesions depicted on MRI involved mainly the periaqueductal brainstem, hypothalamus and mamillary bodies, and medial thalami. Hypoxia usually causes cerebro-cerebellar cortical damage. However, it may also cause midline lesions of similar distribution to those of Wernicke's encephalopathy due to thiamine deficiency.
Johkura
Ken
K
Department of Neurology, Hiratsuka Kyosai Hospital, 9-11 Oiwake, Hiratsuka 254-8502, Kanagawa, Japan. johkura-k@kkr.hiratsuka.kanagawa.jp
Naito
Makoto
M
D000368:Aged; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D002534:Hypoxia, Brain / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D014899:Wernicke Encephalopathy / Q000473:pathology*