Case Record of the Massachusetts General Hospital (
@MassGeneralNews): A 62-year-old woman with a history of stroke and metastatic breast cancer that was being treated with immunomodulator therapy presented with memory loss, confabulation, anhedonia, ataxia, and weight loss.
CT of the chest (Fig. 1A), performed after the administration of intravenous contrast material, showed a stable pulmonary nodule in the right middle lobe, which was consistent with known pulmonary metastatic disease. CT of the abdomen and pelvis (Fig. 1B), performed after the administration of intravenous contrast material, revealed diffuse low attenuation of the liver that was consistent with hepatic steatosis. Multiple uterine fibroids were noted. No new metastatic lesions were identified.
MRI of the head (Fig. 2), performed with and without the administration of intravenous contrast material, showed stable encephalomalacia and gliosis in the posterior aspect of the left temporal lobe and left occipital lobe. No acute infarct, mass lesion, or abnormal enhancement was identified.
Repeat MRI of the head, performed after the administration of intravenous contrast material, revealed marked symmetric enhancement involving the mammillary bodies on both sides (Fig. 3). T2-weighted images, T2-weighted fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images, and diffusion-weighted images showed no appreciable signal abnormality in the mammillary bodies, thalami, periaqueductal gray matter, or elsewhere in the brain, aside from the known region of encephalomalacia and gliosis related to the remote infarction in the posterior aspect of the left temporal lobe and left occipital lobe. In this patient’s case, these findings are highly suggestive of the Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome.
Learn more in “A 62-Year-Old Woman with Memory Loss, Anhedonia, and Temporal Wasting,” a Case Record of the Massachusetts General Hospital, by Sejal B. Shah, MD, Robert H. Unger, MD, and Emily M. Sorg, MD:
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ALT This image consists of CT images of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis. Panel A: A contrast-enhanced image of the chest shows a stable pulmonary nodule in the right middle lobe (circle), a finding compatible with known pulmonary metastatic disease. Panel B: A contrast-enhanced image of the abdomen and pelvis shows decreased attenuation throughout the liver (arrow) as compared with the spleen (asterisk), a finding compatible with hepatic steatosis.
ALT This image consists of initial MRI of the head. A T2-weighted fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) image (Panel A), a diffusion-weighted image (Panel B), and a T1-weighted contrast-enhanced image (Panel C) show a region of encephalomalacia in the posterior aspect of the left temporal lobe and left occipital lobe (arrows) with surrounding gliosis (Panel A, asterisks), findings compatible with a chronic infarct.
ALT This image consists of repeat MRI of the head.
Axial T1-weighted images obtained before and after the administration of contrast material (Panels A and B, respectively) show marked enhancement involving the mammillary bodies on both sides (arrows). T1-weighted contrast-enhanced images in the coronal and sagittal planes (Panel C and D, respectively) also show avid enhancement involving the mammillary bodies (arrows), which can be seen anterior to the midbrain (Panel D, asterisk). Axial T2-weighted FLAIR images at the level of the midbrain and thalami (Panels E and F, respectively) show no definitive signal abnormality in the periaqueductal gray matter (Panel E, circle) or medial thalami (Panel F, arrows).