Encéphalopathie de Wernicke: complication rare de l’hyperemesis gravidarum

Wernicke’s encephalopathy is a deficiency disease resulting from severe thiamine deficiency (vitamin B1). It mainly occurs in alcoholic subjects, but sometimes it is difficult to diagnose. The absence of treatment leads to severe cognitive sequelae. Magnetic resonance imaging is the gold standard imaging modality to confirm the diagnosis. The diagnostic sign is T2-weighted hyperintensity in the periaqueducal, thalami and mammillary bodies. We report the case of a 30-year-old woman with abundant vomiting during the first trimester of pregnancy (hyperemesis gravidarum), causing symptomatic Wernicke’s encephalopathy.