• Hideki Onishi, Mayumi Ishida, Iori Tanahashi, Takao Takahashi, Yoshitada Taji, Kenji Ikebuchi, Daisuke Furuya, and Tatsuo Akechi.
• Department of Psycho-Oncology,Saitama Medical University,Saitama International Medical Center,Saitama,Japan.
• Palliat Support Care. 2018 Feb 1; 16 (1): 118-121.

ObjectiveWernicke encephalopathy (WE) is a neuropsychiatric disorder caused by thiamine deficiency. Several reports of WE in cancer patients are known. WE is sometimes overlooked because most patients do not exhibit its typical symptoms (e.g., delirium, ataxia, ocular palsy). If delirium is not present, a diagnosis of WE is difficult because delirium is the hallmark symptom of WE.MethodTaken from a series on WE in cancer, we report two patients who developed WE without delirium during periodic psycho-oncology outpatient visits.ResultsCase 1. A 61-year-old woman with non-Hodgkin lymphoma who was periodically attending a psycho-oncology outpatient clinic developed an unsteady gait. WE was suspected because she also developed appetite loss for two weeks, and we could find no other laboratory findings to explain her unsteady gait. Our diagnosis was supported by abnormal serum thiamine and disappearance of the gait disturbance after intravenous thiamine administration. Case 2. A 50-year-old woman with breast carcinoma with bone metastasis developed an unsteady gait. WE was suspected because she also developed loss of appetite for two weeks, and no other laboratory findings could explain her unsteady gait. The diagnosis was supported by abnormal serum thiamine and disappearance of the gait disturbance after administration of intravenous thiamine.Significance Of ResultsOur report emphasizes the importance of being aware of WE, even when patients do not present with delirium. The presence of loss of appetite for more than two weeks may be the key to a diagnosis of WE.

21 keywords...

hide…