Analysis of factors leading to brain MRI lesions in Wernicke’s encephalopathy

Abstract

[Objective] To investigate association between Wernicke encephalopathy (WE) and brain MRI. [Subjects] 26 patients (7 females, mean age 63.9 ± 12.7 years) with WE admitted to our department between May 2008 and September 2022. [Methods] Wernicke’s encephalopathy in patients with MRI lesions was defined as “MRI-positive group” (MPG), and those without MRI lesions as “MRI-negative group” (MNG). The following parameters were assessed between the two groups: age, sex, alcoholism, neurological symptoms, vitamin B₁, lymphocyte, total cholesterol, albumin, and outcome at discharge. [Results] There were 17 patients in MPG. Compared to MNG, MPG had lower rates of alcohol abuse (10.0% vs 77.8%, P = 0.025), lower vitamin B₁ (median 10.0 ‍ng/ml vs 29.0 ‍ng/ml, P < 0.001), and more vitamin B₁ treatment dose (median 1900 ‍mg vs 600 ‍mg, P = 0.016). [Conclusion] Alcoholic WE may be overlooked if the focus is solely on brain MRI findings.