Wernicke's encephalopathy: An underrecognized and reversible cause of confusional state in cancer patients

Oncology

Volumn 76, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 10-18

  Kuo, Sheng Han ^a   Debnam, J Mathew ^b   Fuller, Gregory N ^b   De Groot, John ^b  

^a BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER   (United States)

Author keywords

Cancer; Confusion; Thiamine; Wernicke's encephalopathy

Indexed keywords

ANTIBIOTIC AGENT; CARMUSTINE; CISPLATIN; CLOFARABINE; CYCLOPHOSPHAMIDE; CYCLOPROPANECARBOXYLIC ACID [4 [4 (4 METHYL 1 PIPERAZINYL) 6 (5 METHYL 2H PYRAZOL 3 YLAMINO) 2 PYRIMIDINYLTHIO]PHENYL]AMIDE; CYTARABINE; DOXORUBICIN; ETOPOSIDE; FLUOROURACIL; IDARUBICIN; IFOSFAMIDE; METHYLPREDNISOLONE SODIUM SUCCINATE; THIAMINE; THIOTEPA; VALPROIC ACID;

ADULT; AGED; ANTIBIOTIC THERAPY; BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTATION; BRAIN HEMATOMA; BREAST CANCER; CANCER CHEMOTHERAPY; CANCER DIAGNOSIS; CANCER PATIENT; CLINICAL ARTICLE; CLINICAL FEATURE; CONFUSION; CRITICALLY ILL PATIENT; DIARRHEA; DIFFUSION WEIGHTED IMAGING; ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM; FEBRILE NEUTROPENIA; FEMALE; GRAFT VERSUS HOST REACTION; HISTOPATHOLOGY; HUMAN; HUMAN TISSUE; KIDNEY FAILURE; LEIOMYOSARCOMA; LIVER FAILURE; MALE; MULTIPLE CYCLE TREATMENT; MULTIPLE MYELOMA; MYELOID LEUKEMIA; NAUSEA; NAUSEA AND VOMITING; NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING; NUTRITIONAL STATUS; PERIAQUEDUCTAL GRAY MATTER; PNEUMONIA; PRIORITY JOURNAL; RETROSPECTIVE STUDY; REVIEW; RISK FACTOR; SEPSIS; TONIC CLONIC SEIZURE; TUMOR GROWTH; VOMITING; WERNICKE ENCEPHALOPATHY;

ADULT; AGED; BREAST NEOPLASMS; CONFUSION; FEMALE; HUMANS; LEIOMYOSARCOMA; LEUKEMIA, MYELOID, ACUTE; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; MULTIPLE MYELOMA; NEOPLASMS; RETROSPECTIVE STUDIES; RISK FACTORS; UTERINE NEOPLASMS; WERNICKE ENCEPHALOPATHY;

EID: 56149120385     PISSN: 00302414     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1159/000174951     Document Type: Review

References (44)

1. Sechi G, Serra A: Wernicke's encephalopathy: new clinical settings and recent advances in diagnosis and management. Lancet Neurol 2007;6:442-455.
2. Folstein MF, Fetting JH, Lobo A, Niaz U, Capozzoli KD: Cognitive assessment of cancer patients. Cancer 1984;53(10 suppl):2250-2257.
3. Gilbert MR, Grossman SA: Incidence and nature of neurologic problems in patients with solid tumors. Am J Med 1986;81:951-954.
4. Wernicke C: Die akute haemorrhagische Polioencephalitis superior; in Lehrbuch der Gehirnkrankheiten fur Aerzte und Studierende. Kassel, Fischer Verlag, 1881, Bd 2, pp 229-242.
5. Cravioto H, Korein J, Silberman J: Wernicke's encephalopathy. A clinical and pathological study of 28 autopsied cases. Arch Neurol 1961;4:510-519.
6. Surges R, Beck S, Niesen WD, Weiller C, Rijntjes M: Sudden bilateral blindness in Wernicke's encephalopathy: case report and review of the literature. J Neurol Sci 2007;260:261-264.
7. Tuma R, DeAngelis LM: Altered mental status in patients with cancer. Arch Neurol 2000;57:1727-1731.
8. Francis J, Martin D, Kapoor WN: A prospective study of delirium in hospitalized elderly. JAMA 1990;263:1097-1101.
9. Victor M, Adams RD, Collins GH: The Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. A clinical and pathological study of 245 patients, 82 with post-mortem examinations. Contemp Neurol Ser 1971;7:1-206.
10. Leevy CM: Thiamin deficiency and alcoholism. Ann NY Acad Sci 1982;378:316-326.
11. Zhang SX, Weilersbacher GS, Henderson SW, Corso T, Olney JW, Langlais PJ: Excitotoxic cytopathology, progression, and reversibility of thiamine deficiency-induced diencephalic lesions. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 1995;54:255-267.
12. Antunez E, Estruch R, Cardenal C, Nicolas JM, Fernandez-Sola J, Urbano-Marquez A: Usefulness of CT and MR imaging in the diagnosis of acute Wernicke's encephalopathy. AJR Am J Roentgenol 1998;171:1131-1137.
13. Kim HA, Lee H: Atypical Wernicke's encephalopathy with remarkable cerebellar lesions on diffusion-weighted MRI. Eur Neurol 2007;58:51-53.
14. White ML, Zhang Y, Andrew LG, Hadley WL: MR imaging with diffusion-weighted imaging in acute and chronic Wernicke encephalopathy. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2005;26:2306-2310.
15. Zhong C, Jin L, Fei G: MR Imaging of nonalcoholic Wernicke encephalopathy: a follow-up study. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2005;26:2301-2305.
16. Halavaara J, Brander A, Lyytinen J, Setala K, Kallela M: Wernicke's encephalopathy: is diffusion-weighted MRI useful? Neuroradiology 2003;45:519-523.
17. Vortmeyer AO, Hagel C, Laas R: Haemorrhagic thiamine deficient encephalopathy following prolonged parenteral nutrition. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1992;55:826-829.
18. Roche SW, Lane RJ, Wade JP: Thalamic hemorrhages in Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome demonstrated by computed tomography. Ann Neurol 1988;23:312.
19. Mancinelli R, Ceccanti M, Guiducci MS, Sasso GF, Sebastiani G, Attilia ML, Allen JP: Simultaneous liquid chromatographic assessment of thiamine, thiamine monophosphate and thiamine diphosphate in human erythrocytes: a study on alcoholics. J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci 2003;789:355-363.
20. De Reuck J, Sieben G, De Coster W, Vander Eecken H: Prospective neuropathologic study on the occurrence of Wernicke's encephalopathy in patients with tumours of the lymphoid-hemopoietic systems. Acta Neuropathol Suppl (Berl) 1981;7:356-358.
21. Torvik A, Lindboe CF, Rogde S: Brain lesions in alcoholics. A neuropathological study with clinical correlations. J Neurol Sci 1982;56:233-248.
22. Harper C: The incidence of Wernicke's encephalopathy in Australia - a neuropathological study of 131 cases. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1983;46:593-598.
23. Shah N, Wolff JA: Thiamine deficiency: probable Wernicke's encephalopathy successfully treated in a child with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Pediatrics 1973;51:750-751.
24. De Reuck JL, Sieben GJ, Sieben-Praet MR, Ngendahayo P, De Coster WJ, Vander Eecken HM: Wernicke's encephalopathy in patients with tumors of the lymphoid-hemopoietic systems. Arch Neurol 1980;37:338-341.
25. Pihko H, Saarinen U, Paetau A: Wernicke encephalopathy - a preventable cause of death: report of 2 children with malignant disease. Pediatr Neurol 1989;5:237-242.
26. Pittella JE, de Castro LP: Wernicke's encephalopathy manifested as Korsakoff's syndrome in a patient with promyelocytic leukemia. South Med J 1990;83:570-573.
27. Bruck W, Christen HJ, Lakomek H, Hanefeld F, Friede RL: Wernicke's encephalopathy in a child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated with polychemotherapy. Clin Neuropathol 1991;10:134-136.
28. De Klippel N, De Keyser J, De Greve J, Van Belle S: A Wernicke's encephalopathy-like neurotoxicity induced by erbulozole. Neurology 1991;41:762-753.
29. Engel PA, Grunnet M, Jacobs B: Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome complicating T-cell lymphoma: unusual or unrecognized? South Med J 1991;84:253-256.
30. Miyajima Y, Fukuda M, Kojima S, Matsuyama T, Shylaja N, Aso K: Wernicke's encephalopathy in a child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Am J Pediatr Hematol Oncol 1993;15:331-334.
31. Kalmanchey R, Koos R, Majtenyi K, Borsi J: Wernicke-encephalopathy in children with cancer. Med Pediatr Oncol 1994;22:133-136.
32. Pagnan L, Berlot G, Pozzi-Mucelli RS: Magnetic resonance imaging in a case of Wernicke's encephalopathy. Eur Radiol 1998;8:977-980.
33. Mulder AH, Raemaekers JM, Boerman RH, Mattijssen V: Downbeat nystagmus caused by thiamine deficiency: an unusual presentation of CNS localization of large cell anaplastic CD 30-positive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Ann Hematol 1999;78:105-107.
34. D'Aprile P, Tarantino A, Santoro N, Carella A: Wernicke's encephalopathy induced by total parenteral nutrition in patient with acute leukaemia: unusual involvement of caudate nuclei and cerebral cortex on MRI. Neuroradiology 2000;42:781-783.
35. Macleod AD: Wernicke's encephalopathy and terminal cancer: case report. Palliat Med 2000;14:217-218.
36. Ogershok PR, Rahman A, Nestor S, Brick J: Wernicke encephalopathy in nonalcoholic patients. Am J Med Sci 2002;323:107-111.
37. Onishi H, Kawanishi C, Onose M, Yamada T, Saito H, Yoshida A, Noda K: Successful treatment of Wernicke encephalopathy in terminally ill cancer patients: report of 3 cases and review of the literature. Support Care Cancer 2004;12:604-608.
38. Baek JH, Sohn SK, Kim DH, Kim JG, Lee HW, Park SP, Lee KB: Wernicke's encephalopathy after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 2005;35:829-830.
39. Kosta P, Margariti P, Tolis C, Tsimichodimos V, Konitsiotis S, Argyropoulou M: Wernicke's encephalopathy in a patient with rhinopharyngeal carcinoma. J Neurol 2005;252:1539-1540.
40. Nolli M, Barbieri A, Pinna C, Pasetto A, Nicosia F: Wernicke's encephalopathy in a malnourished surgical patient: clinical features and magnetic resonance imaging. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 2005;49:1566-1570.
41. Heier MS, Fossa SD: Wernicke-Korsakoff-like syndrome in patients with colorectal carcinoma treated with high-dose doxifluridine (5′-dFUrd). Acta Neurol Scand 1986;73:449-457.
42. Nicolao P, Giometto B: Neurological toxicity of ifosfamide. Oncology 2003;65 (suppl 2):11-16.
43. Buesa JM, Garcia-Teijido P, Losa R, Fra J: Treatment of ifosfamide encephalopathy with intravenous thiamin. Clin Cancer Res 2003;9:4636-4637.
44. Bleggi-Torres LF, de Medeiros BC, Werner B, Neto JZ, Loddo G, Pasquini R, de Medeiros CR: Neuropathological findings after bone marrow transplantation: an autopsy study of 180 cases. Bone Marrow Transplant 2000;25:301-307.