Focal hyperemia in Wernicke’s encephalopathy: a preliminary arterial spin labeling MRI study

Although a perturbed cerebral blood flow (CBF) has been reported in patients with Wernicke’s encephalopathy (WE), its clinical meaning is still elusive. A retrospective analysis of 10 patients (male, 6; mean age, 57.7 years) with WE between October 2012 and May 2018 was performed. Brain imaging was performed using fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR), diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI), and contrasted enhanced T1-weighted imaging. All patients had symmetric high signal intensity lesions in the vulnerable areas on FLAIR or DWI with focal hyperintensity on ASL-PWI (100% sensitivity). CBF_lesion was variable (from 70 mL/100 g/min to 190.0 mL/100 g/min). CBF_lesion/CBF_{white matter} was elevated, ranging from 2.5 to 5.5. Focal hyperintensity on ASL in the vulnerable areas can be a diagnostic clue for WE.