Korsakoff's Syndrome

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Korsakoff's syndrome


  • poor retention of recent memories
  • preserved working memory
  • confabulation
  • retrograde amnesia
  • clear consciousness
  • apathy / euphoria
  • peripheral neuropathy
  • only 20% improve with thiamine

Aetiology

  • Thiamine deficiency
    • alcoholism
    • starvation
    • hyperemesis
  • (also seen in 
    • subarachnoid haemorrhage
    • bilateral temporal lobectomy)

Pathology

  • Parenchymal loss
  • petechial haemorrhages in walls of 3rd ventricle, mamillary bodies, thalamus
 

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