Abstract

GRANDEZ-URBINA, J. Antonio et al. Wernicke Korsakoff disease in hyperemesis gravidarum: Case presentation at the Hospital Hipólito Unanue, Lima, Perú, and review of the literature. Rev Colomb Obstet Ginecol [online]. 2013, vol.64, n.3, pp.333-337. ISSN 0034-7434.

Objectives: Wernicke's encephalopathy is a severe disorder caused by vitamin B1 deficiency. The prevalence of this rarely diagnosed disease is higher than reported. Consequently, our objective is to present an unusual case and conduct a review of the literature. Materials and methods: We present a case of a pregnant woman, 29 years old, who presented at 12 weeks of gestation to the emergency service of the Hospital Nacional Hipólito Unanue, a tertiary referral center in Lima, Peru, that serves patients in the low-income bracket. Symptoms included nausea, uncontrolled vomiting, night blindness with psychotic manifestations and ataxia, and low weight in the 12% range. Diagnosis was based on serum levels of B1 vitamin. A systematic search was conducted using the following key words: Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome and hyperemesis gravidarum in Pubmed, Scopus, Embase, DOAJ, SciELO, Latindex, Redalyc and Lilacs. Results: The search resulted in 135 articles, 45 of which were directly related to the topic. Of those, 6 case reports and 11 review articles were selected. Conclusions: WernickeKorsakoff disease associated with hyperemesis gravidarum is relatively difficult to diagnose, and requires prompt and timely management in order to preserve the health of the mother and the fetus.

Keywords : Wernicke-Korsakoff; hyperemesis gravidarum.

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