Korsakoff's syndrome

Abstract

This paper aims to describe the Korsakoff's syndrome. It explains that it is an avoidable disarray of human memory which is connected with long-term heavy drinking and thiamine deficiency. Individuals with Korsakoff's syndrome are likely to have significant impairments in their capacity to remember recent events, or in what is known as their “explicit memory.” This study analyzes the experimental and logical literature on this disease. Study reassesses the experimental and observational literature on Karl Wernicke brain disorder and the alcohol-dependent Korsakoff syndrome. Generally Korsakoff's syndrome is affiliated with habitual intoxicant abuse, and a few accented imbibers that could bear an inherited sensitivity to acquiring the disease. In that respect, this paper highlights few long-run follow through analyses and discuses the impact of the syndrome on a patient's life.

Korsakoff's syndrome

Introduction

Korsakoff Syndrome is labeled as a brain disorder. It is frequently related to long-term heavy drinking and thiamine deficiency. Individuals who have been diagnosed with Korsakoff Syndrome tend to present substantial deficiencies in their capacity to remember recent events, or in what is termed their “explicit memory.” Alcoholism often results in a thiamine(vitamin B) deficiency that is important to nervous system functioning because helps to synthesize the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Untreated thiamine deficiencies lead to damage in the dorsomedial thalamus and mammilla bodies of the diencephalon. Alcoholism can also lead to lesions in the cerebellum, brainstem and cortex, which would affect cognitive functioning and memory as well as physical motor skills.

Korsakoff syndrome related to the brain disorder, usually this disease takes place due to the consumption of heavy alcohol for a longer period, previously this disease was named as Korsakoff psychosis, and whereas this name is bit confusing as it does not defines the true psychotic symptoms (Bentham 2008). Many times this disease has been referred to as the syndrome of alcohol amnestic, which describes the memory loss a person suffers. There are very few cases in which alcohol is not the cause. Korsakoff syndrome includes short term memory loss, as this syndrome is caused by the lack of thiamine that is vitamin B1 that affects the nervous system of brain. Thiamine deficiency can be present in an individual consuming extra amount of alcohol. Therefore, many heavy drinkers experience poor eating habits that results in their inadequate nutrition and affects their ability to preserve important vitamins. Alcohol can affect the stomach and the body's ability that helps in absorbing the key vitamins received by the body. We know that the main symptom of this disease is memory loss, specifically events rising after the onset of the condition. Moreover, the disease also affects past memories. Other than this, symptoms also include a change in personality and difficulty in accepting new information. The patient will also experience trouble with learning new skills, known as confabulation. This term usually refers to the invention of events in order to fill up the memory gaps, and lack of insight into the condition. Among these symptoms, confabulation is one of the delusional symptoms related to fact ...