Vestibular dysfunction in Wernicke encephalopathy / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To analyze the abnormal vestibular function of Wernicke encephalopathy (WE) and to explore its diagnostic value.Methods:WE patients who visited the Vertigo Center of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2018 to January 2021 were retrospectively collected. All patients were evaluated by clinical neurology. Before treatment, all patients completed video head impulse test (vHIT) and video nystagmusgraphy (VNG) in addition to cranial magnetic resonance and serum thiamine level examination.Results:All 12 patients had a history of eating defects, including 8 cases of alcoholism. All 12 patients had walking instability, 7 cases had dizziness and 8 cases had oscillopsia. Six cases had ophthalmoplegia. All 12 cases showed positive gaze nystagmus. The pathological saccades of bilateral horizontal semicircular canals were found in 12 patients by vHIT before treatment, but there was only 1 patient showing abnormality in vertical semicircular canals, the difference being statistically significant ( P<0.05). All patients could detect bilateral, horizontal, gaze-evoked nystagmus, including 3 cases with vertical nystagmus, 1 case with abnormal saccade test, 3 cases with abnormal smooth tracking test and 1 case with abnormal optokinetic test. There were abnormalities in the caloric test, including 6 cases of bilateral dysfunction and 2 cases of unilateral dysfunction. Conclusions:WE patients may have abnormal vHIT and bilateral, horizontal, gaze-evoked nystagmus, which is similar to the special abnormal signs of simultaneous damage of both peripheral and central vestibular dysfunction.Vestibular function test is valuable for diagnosis of WE, and it is suitable for patients with a history of nutritional disorders who have dizziness or walking instability and suspected WE.