Atypical Wernicke's encephalopathy showing involvement of substantia nigra.

CASE HISTORY: Wernicke's encephalopathy is a metabolic disorder caused by deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B1) seen in alcoholics and even in nonalcoholic patients, classically presenting with a triad of ataxia, ophthalmoplegia, and altered mental status. Typical findings in magnetic resonance imaging are represented by symmetric signal alterations in medial thalami, mamillary bodies, tectal plate, and periaqueductal area and atypical findings involve lesions in cerebellum, midline vermis, red nuclei, dentate, caudate, cranial nerve nuclei, splenium and cerebral cortex. We report here a case of nonalcoholic starvation induced atypical WE showing symmetrical lesions in substantia nigra in addition to the classical neuroradiological findings.