Korsakoff's syndrome
| Korsakoff syndrome | |
|---|---|
| Classification and external resources | |
| Specialty | psychiatry |
| ICD-10 | F10.6 |
| ICD-9-CM | 291.1, 294.0 |
| DiseasesDB | 14107 |
| eMedicine | med/2405 |
| Patient UK | Korsakoff's syndrome |
| MeSH | D020915 |
Korsakoff's syndrome is a manifestation of Wernicke's encephalopathy observed in long-term abusers of alcohol. It is rare among the other patients, but, for example, some cases have been observed after bariatric surgeries, when deficiency was not prevented by use of nutritional supplements. This neurological disorder is caused by a lack of thiamine (vitamin B1) in the brain, and is also often exacerbated by the neurotoxic effects of alcohol. When Wernicke's encephalopathy accompanies Korsakoff's syndrome the combination is called the Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome; however, a recognized episode of Wernicke's is not always obvious. The syndrome is named after Sergei Korsakoff, a Russian neuropsychiatrist who discovered the syndrome during the late 19th century.
There are six major symptoms of Korsakoff's syndrome:
Thiamine is essential for the decarboxylation of pyruvate, and deficiency during this metabolic process is thought to cause damage to the medial thalamus and mammillary bodies of the posterior hypothalamus, as well as generalized cerebral atrophy. These brain regions are all parts of the limbic system, which is heavily involved in emotion and memory.
Korsakoff's involves neuronal loss, that is, damage to neurons; gliosis, which is a result of damage to supporting cells of the central nervous system, and hemorrhage or bleeding also occurs in mammillary bodies. Damage to the dorsomedial nucleus or anterior group of the thalamus (limbic-specific nuclei) is also associated with this disorder. Cortical dysfunction may have arisen from thiamine deficiency, alcohol neurotoxicity, and/or structural damage in the diencephalon.
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