Wernicke-Korsakoff Encephalopathy

Vol. 59, No. 1-2, 2008

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Historical Note

Wernicke-Korsakoff Encephalopathy
J.M.S. Pearce

Emeritus Consultant Neurologist, Department of Neurology, Hull Royal Infirmary and Hull York Medical School, Hull, UK

Address of Corresponding Author

Eur Neurol 2008;59:101-104 (DOI: 10.1159/000109580)

Key Words

Wernicke
Korsakoff
Alcoholism
Dysmnesic syndrome
James Jackson
Gayet

Abstract

Wernicke described the clinical features of three patients, including two alcoholics, suffering from confusion, ataxia and ophthalmoplegia in whom pathologically he found 'polioencephalitis haemorrhagica superioris'. Korsakoff's doctoral thesis related similar findings but expanded the confabulation and amnesic elements, relating them to alcoholism. This paper, which summarises the salient aspects of the syndrome, discusses their work and shows important earlier descriptions by James Jackson, (1822) Samuel Wilks (1868) and Charles Gayet (1875).

Author Contacts

J.M.S. Pearce
304 Beverley Road
Anlaby, East Yorks HU10 7BG (UK)

Article Information

Received: February 7, 2007
Accepted: February 9, 2007
Published online: October 11, 2007
Number of Print Pages : 4
Number of Figures : 0, Number of Tables : 0, Number of References : 19

Medline Abstract (ID 17934284)

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