A common symptom and a rare presentation - Wernicke’s Encephalopathy; A case report and literature review

Abstract

Wernicke’s encephalopathy (WE) is an uncommon neurological complication in pregnancy resulting from Vitamin B₁ deficiency. We report a rare case of Wernicke’s encephalopathy due to hyperemesis gravidarum in a 21-year-old antenatal women of gestational age 19 weeks. Initially, the disease manifested as conscious, disoriented, unsteadiness of gait, nystagmus (horizontal and vertical). The diagnosis was established after the detection of suggestive findings of WE in the thalamus by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Hyperemesis is a rare cause of WE, which makes the reported case important in the literature and reinforces the need for attention in clinical practice to rare but important complications of this common condition (hyperemesis gravidarum).