Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jun 16, 2022; 10(17): 5810-5815
Published online Jun 16, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i17.5810
Non-alcoholic Wernicke encephalopathy in an esophageal cancer patient receiving radiotherapy: A case report
Ye Zhang, Lei Wang, Jin Jiang, Wen-Yu Chen
Ye Zhang, Lei Wang, Department of General Practice, The Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, Jiaxing 314000, Zhejiang Province, China
Jin Jiang, Department of Oncology, The Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, Jiaxing 314000, Zhejiang Province, China
Wen-Yu Chen, Department of Respiration, The Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, Jiaxing 314000, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang Y and Jiang J were the patient’s doctors, reviewed the literature, and contributed to manuscript drafting; Wang L reviewed the literature and contributed to manuscript drafting; Chen WY analyzed and interpreted the imaging findings; Zhang Y and Wang L were responsible for the revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content; all authors issued final approval for the version to be submitted.
Supported by the Scientific Technology Plan Program for Healthcare in Zhejiang Province, No. 2021KY1100; and the Key Discipline of Jiaxing General Practice Medicine Construction Project, No. 2019-fc-03.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Dr. Zhang reports grants from Scientific Technology Plan Program for Healthcare in Zhejiang Province during the conduct of the study.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Lei Wang, Doctor, Chief Doctor, Department of General Practice, The Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, No. 1882 Zhonghuan South Road, Nanhu District, Jiaxing 314000, Zhejiang Province, China. jxdyyywlyx@163.com
Received: December 1, 2021
Peer-review started: December 1, 2021
First decision: January 12, 2022
Revised: January 13, 2022
Accepted: April 22, 2022
Article in press: April 22, 2022
Published online: June 16, 2022
Core Tip

Core Tip: Wernicke encephalopathy is a neuropsychiatric disorder resulting from thiamine deficiency. It is frequently associated with alcoholism and is challenging to diagnose in non-alcoholic patients. Only scarce reports of Wernicke encephalopathy accompanying cancer have been reported, mainly in haematological malignancies followed by gastrointestinal malignancies. There have been no reports about Wernicke encephalopathy accompanying esophageal cancer. Here we report the first case of Wernicke encephalopathy in an esophageal cancer patient receiving radiotherapy. It is presented to emphasize that early nutritional evaluation and diagnosis are important. Prompt thiamine supplementation is the key to preventing permanent neurological damage.