Marchiafava-Bignami disease: consecutive observation at acute stage by magnetic resonance imaging and computerized...

A 62-year-old male Japanese, a heavy drinker for his last 40 years, was admitted to our hospital because of unstable gait of acute onset. Despite large doses of thiamine injection, his condition rapidly worsened with confusion, and died 15 days after the onset. During the deteriorating course, a series of Computerized Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans were taken of the brain, which revealed progressive multifocal involvement in the corpus callosum; Marchiafava-Bignami disease was suggested. To the authors' best knowledge, there have been no MRI examinations conducted from so early a stage of this disease on. MRI scanning proves to be a highly useful tool for early diagnosis of Marchiafava-Bignami disease.