[Two cases of Wernicke's disease]. / Dos casos de enfermedad de Wernicke.

We describe the cases of two men, one of whom was a non-alcoholic 50-year-old man who had been on hunger strike for 50 days and who was admitted to hospital with dysarthria, unstable gait, disorientation, ophthalmoplegia and ataxia. The suspected diagnosis was Wernicke's encephalopathy and treatment consisted of intramuscular thiamine shots followed by oral administration of the same drug, which produced rapid symptom resolution. In both patients, magnetic resonance imaging showed bilateral and symmetrical injuries around Silvio's aqueduct and in the periventricular region of both thalami.