LENCEPHALOPATHIE DE GAYET-WERNICKE CHEZ UNE PATIENTE SUIVIE POUR PANCREATITE: A PROPOS DUN CAS

Gayet-Wernicke encephalopathy is a serious complication of thiamine deficiency characterized by a clinical triad: confusional state, oculomotor disturbances, and cerebellar ataxia. Alcoholism is the main cause of thiamine deficiency. Severe pancreatitis through prolonged fasting and vomiting may exceptionally give a similar clinical picture which sometimes poses diagnostic difficultiesDiagnosis is based on brain imaging by showing on MRI a T2 or FLAIR hypersignal affecting the peri-aqueductal region, the medial part of the thalamus, the floor of the fourth ventricle, the vermis, the mammillary bodies and, sometimes, the cortex. Treatment consists of rapid intravenous administration of thiamine. We report a case of 66-year-old patient followed for severe pancreatitis whose evolution was marked by the onset of a consciousness disorder whose investigations returned in favor of Gayet-Wernicke encephalopathy.