Korsakoff is a neurological disorder that exhibits neurological symptoms that happen due to the biochemical lesions of the central nervous system. Korsakoff Syndrome occurs due to deficiency of Vitamin B1 or Thiamine.

But this is not the only cause that is responsible for the disease. Too much consumption of alcohol can be equally blamed for it. This disease was named after the famous neuropsychiatries Dr. Sergei Korsakoff as he discovered the cause of this in the 2nd half of the 19th century.

Signs and Symptoms of Korsakoff Syndrome

Generally, a disease is diagnosed by its signs and symptoms. Naturally, this Korsakoff Syndrome also has some regular signs and symptoms by which the doctor can suspect about the disease. The prime symptoms include anterograde amnesia which means loss of memory of different events after the time when the symptoms have been exhibited. This memory loss may extend to those events also which happened even before the onset of these syndromes. A person can forget those events also which have just happened just before some minutes ago. These patients often get some events in their memories which even did not occur. Sometimes they even get nothing to remember about a particular moment. They also lose interest in regular incidents. No change puts any effect on their mind.

Causes in the Root

There are two types of Korsakoff Syndromes generally seen among people. One is alcoholic and the other is non-alcoholic. In both cases generally, the symptoms are more or less the same though there is a difference in the treatment and management process. A continuous lack of supply of vitamin B1 or thiamine is the main cause of this disease. The alcoholic Korsakoff happens due to the uncontrolled insertion of alcohol in the body whereas the non-alcoholic Korsakoff occurs due to massive malnutrition. If there is alcoholism associated with malnutrition, then the disease gets more intense. There are some other reasons behind it too like vomiting too much for a long time, chemotherapies, disorder in eating of foods.

Risk Factors Associated with Korsakoff

There are several factors that may be considered as risk factors. The first factor is of extreme importance in the age of the patient. Due to age, the immunity and the internal functions of the body decline, so there is a lack of supply of vitamin B1 in the brain that can cause this disease. Alcoholism is another cause and has been described previously. The effects of extreme chemotherapy may cause lesions of the brain cells due to changes in the chemical balance. Sometimes extreme dieting puts huge pressure on the nutrient store on the body and thus these diseases may occur.

Prevention and Treatment

There are different types of treatment procedures of Korsakoff but the most fruitful measure will definitely be the prevention. To avoid this disease the patient should take the appropriate amount of Vitamin B1. The most important thing in this disease is the immense care of the patient in his diet and lifestyle. There is no such medicine for this but to give supplements of Vitamin B1 or inject this into muscles. But in extreme cases only the supplements will not work, medicines will be required.