Marchiafava-Bignami and Alcohol Related Acute Polyneuropathy: The Cooccurrence of Two Rare Entities

Case Rep Neurol Med. 2016:2016:5848572. doi: 10.1155/2016/5848572. Epub 2016 Sep 7.

Abstract

Objectives. The aim of this article is to represent the first reported case with cooccurrence of two rare alcohol related complications. Case Report. We report a 38-year-old man with chronic alcoholism who presented with both cranial and peripheral nerve palsy. On MRI examination characteristic findings of Marchiafava-Bignami disease were recognized. Discussion. Marchiafava-Bignami disease (MBD) is a rare complication of long-term, heavy alcohol abuse that has characteristic MRI findings. Acute alcohol related polyneuropathy (AARP) is another rare and not-well-understood complication of chronic alcohol abuse. We could not find any previous report of the cooccurrence of these two complications in the literature.