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Case Reports
. 2019 Aug;20(3):274-276.
doi: 10.1177/1751143718777167. Epub 2018 May 17.

Suspected dietary-related Wernicke's encephalopathy

Gregory Pugh  1 , Hassan Iqbal  1 , Jon Bramall  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Suspected dietary-related Wernicke's encephalopathy

Gregory Pugh et al. J Intensive Care Soc. 2019 Aug.

Abstract

A 64-year-old female presented with fluctuating level of consciousness of unclear cause. She had radiological features of right middle lobe consolidation and raised inflammatory markers, but normal computed tomography scan of head and normal cerebrospinal fluid results. She was intubated and ventilated with nasogastric feeding for four days and had fully recovered after six days. Upon recovery, the patient disclosed that she had maintained an ice cream-only diet for three years prior to this presentation. She was therefore diagnosed with Wernicke's encephalopathy secondary to dietary insufficiency of thiamine, which was acutely precipitated by pneumonia and recovered following establishment of appropriate nutrition.

Keywords: Wernicke encephalopathy; coma; ice cream; nutritional requirements; thiamine deficiency.

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