Isolated Enhancement Effect is the Only MRI Finding for Wernicke's encephalopathy
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Updated: Oct 14, 2025

In vivo Imaging of Optic Nerve Fiber Integrity by Contrast-Enhanced MRI in Mice
Published on: July 22, 2014
Shuang He1, Yin-Yan Xu1, Shuai Chen1
1Department of Neurology, Zhengzhou University People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
Abstract:
Wernicke's encephalopathy (WE) is an acute neuropsychiatric disorder that results from thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency. The typical clinical manifestations, which occur as triads in 20% of patients with the disorder, are acute mental status changes, ophthalmoplegia, and ataxia. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has important value in diagnosis as it can reveal abnormalities in the thalamus, mammillary body, third and fourth ventricles, and periaqueductal area. Here we describe a 44-year-old female patient with WE, in the context of fasting following bowel surgery. The unique neuroimaging findings were symmetrical mammillary body and dorsal midbrain abnormalities, only evident on contrast-enhanced brain MRI.
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