జెరోంటాలజీ & జెరియాట్రిక్ పరిశోధన

నైరూప్య

Brain SPECT Findings at the Acute Stage of Disease in Patients with Wernicke Encephalopathy

Yoshitake Abe, Noriyuki Kimura*, Yasuhiro Aso and Etsuro Matsubara

Background: We aimed to objectively examine regional cerebral blood flow at the acute stage of disease in patients with Wernicke encephalopathy. Methods: We performed single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with 99mTc ethylcysteinate dimer in 5 patients with Wernicke encephalopathy, and 15 age- and sex-matched control subjects. SPECT data were analyzed by statistical parametric mapping 8 (SPM8). Results: SPM8 revealed relative hypoperfusion in the bilateral anterior cingulate gyri and the left inferior frontal gyrus compared to controls. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that Wernicke encephalopathy affects brain function mainly in the frontal lobe, similar to Korsakoff syndrome.