Paucisymptomatic Marchiafava–Bignami disease with relevant diffusion-weighted MRI lesions

Abstract

Marchiafava–Bignami disease (MBD) is a rare alcohol-associated disorder characterized by demyelization and necrosis of the corpus callosum. Diffusion-weighted (DW) MRI may reveal the lesions in patients showing serious clinical manifestations, high mortality rate and severe cognitive sequelae, though some cases with good outcome have been reported. We describe a case of a man with a history of chronic alcohol abuse associated with malabsorption; the man presented mild clinical signs on the first neurological exam, despite the presence of DW-MRI lesions, bilaterally involving entire corpus callosum, that are compatible with MBD diagnosis.

KEYWORDS: :

• Marchiafava–Bignami disease
• diffusion-weighted MRI
• alcohol abuse
• malabsorption
• outcome
• prognosis