Internal medicine journal
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Internal medicine journal · Sep 2014
ReviewThiamine in the treatment of Wernicke encephalopathy in patients with alcohol use disorders.
Wernicke encephalopathy is an acute, reversible neuropsychiatric emergency due to thiamine deficiency. Urgent and adequate thiamine replacement is necessary to avoid death or progression to Korsakoff syndrome with largely irreversible brain damage. ⋯ Currently, different dose recommendations are being made. We present recommendations for the assessment and treatment of Wernicke encephalopathy based on literature review and our clinical experience.