Wernicke's encephalopathy (WE) is a potentially fatal neuropsychiatric syndrome precipitated by thiamine deficiency due to a variety of causes such as chronic severe alcoholism, starvation, and prolonged intravenous feeding. WE has also been observed rarely in the clinical setting of hyperemesis gravidarum. Here, we report the case of a 34-year-old pregnant woman who presented with reduced vision, gaze-evoked nystagmus, and postural imbalance preceded by 2 weeks of hyperemesis. Fundus examination showed features consistent with papillitis. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed T2WI, FLAIR, and diffusion-weighted imaging MR images showing hyperintensity in dorsomedial thalami and periaqueductal grey matter with diffusion restriction. She was diagnosed with WE based on history, clinical examination findings, and MRI findings and was treated with injectable thiamine. She showed marked improvement in vision and nystagmus within 3 days. Our case is a rare presentation of WE in a pregnant woman with hyperemesis gravidarum.
The association of dermatomyositis and underlying malignancies, especially small cell and squamous cell carcinoma of the lung, has been recognized a long time ago. We report the case of a 63-year-old male chronic smoker with adenocarcinoma lung associated with dermatomyositis. The occurrence of dermatomyositis should be considered as a potential presentation of paraneoplastic syndromes and physicians encountering similar clinical situations should perform extensive diagnostic work-up to exclude underlying neoplastic lesions.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.