Abstract
Wernicke encephalopathy is an acute encephalopathy, characterized by the triad of mental confusion, ophthalmoplegia, and gait ataxia. Many reasons have been reported in the etiology that may be related to insufficient intake or malabsorption of thiamine. Here, we present a case of Wernicke's encephalopathy that developed after gastric bypass surgery, whose diagnosis was delayed because there was no feature other than papillary edema and obesity at early examination. During follow-up, the patient developed ophthalmoplegia and tetraparesis, and a change in consciousness was added. When Wernicke's encephalopathy was considered in the diagnosis, her clinic improved progressively under high dose intravenous thiamine treatment. The fact that this case had papillary edema, being obese, and the characteristic findings of the picture were obscure at the beginning caused a delay in diagnosis. This case was thought to be important as it would increase awareness of the uncommon findings of Wernicke's encephalopathy.
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