Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome

The term Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome ( after Carl Wernicke and Sergei Korsakov ) are two diseases with different symptoms, but summarized the same history ( pathogenesis ), namely the

• Korsakow-Syndrom/Korsakow-Psychose and the
• Wernicke's encephalopathy.

The combination of both diseases is well known in chronic alcoholic men, but both can also occur independently.

Characteristic of the Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome are punctate hemorrhages and proliferation of vascular wall cells without inflammatory infiltration, especially in the mesencephalic aqueduct between the III. and fourth ventricle.

The acute phase is often in a Korsakoff's psychosis over - the patients suffering from retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia, that is, they are neither able to form new memory still retrieve stored content. Furthermore, they show confabulations ( memory gaps are " filled" with fantasized events).

In most cases there is a thiamine (vitamin B1 before ) deficiency with malnutrition; Malabsorption or unilateral Kohlehydraternährung do the rest.