Good Response to Thiamine in Bilateral Thalamic Infarction Simulating a Wernicke Syndrome: Does it Has a Role in Acute Stroke?

Abstract

The classic clinical triad of Bilateral Thalamic Infarction is consciousness compromise, ocular motility disturbances, and cognitive deterioration; and would be an obligatory differential diagnosis of Wernicke´s Syndrome, which usually has, as clinical findings, altered mental status, ataxic gait and ophtalmoplegia. While Wernicke´s Syndrome is frequently associated with alcohol intake, it is known that there are some cases not related to alcohol consumption, these subtypes are called atypical non-alcoholic Wernicke´s Syndrome and are provoked by malnutrition as their most important etiology.