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S.V.

JAMA. 1970;213(1):119-120.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

On the North American continent, Wernicke's encephalopathy and Korsakoff's psychosis occur predominantly in chronic alcoholics. This predilection can be explained by the dietary habits of the alcoholic, the bulk of whose calories is preempted by alcohol while the remainder is limited to carbohydrate food deficient in vitamins, particularly thiamine. But, though afflicting the same population group and associated with similar environmental factors, these disorders are generally held to be separate entities, each with its distinct clinical pattern—Wernicke's encephalopathy characterized by confusion, apathy, dullness, ocular palsies, and ataxia; Korsakoff's psychosis evidenced primarily by a memory disorder often leading to disorientation in space and time and occasionally to confabulation.

This dualistic concept has been recently challenged. In a study of 12 patients manifesting symptoms of either or both disorders, Shimojyo and co-workers¹ have found no important differences in cerebral metabolism and hemodynamics. Cerebral blood flow and oxygen and glucose consumption were strikingly . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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