Marchiafava–Bignami disease in chronic alcoholic patient

Abstract

Marchiafava–Bignami disease is a rare toxic encephalopathy seen mostly in chronic alcoholics due to progressive demyelination and necrosis of the corpus callosum. It may involve adjacent white matter and subcortical regions. We present here the magnetic resonance imaging findings of Machiafava–Bignami disease in a chronic alcoholic patient. In 1903, Italian pathologists Marchiafava and Bignami described 3 alcoholic men who died after having seizures and coma. All 3 patients were chronic alcoholics and had consumed considerable amounts of red wine.

Keywords

• Marchiafava–Bignami disease
• Corpus callosum
• Magnetic resonance imaging