Korsakoff syndrome is a late neuropsychiatric manifestation of Wernicke encephalopathy that often affects alcohol abusers and is characterized by anterograde and retrograde amnesia, confabulation, and apathy due to damage to the medial temporal lobes and other brain regions. While sensorium is intact, long-term memory is relatively preserved but new memories are not formed. Treatment with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and memantine may improve attention and memory, but patients rarely recover fully from the condition.

1. “Any altruistic system is inherently unstable, because it is open to abuse by selfish
individuals, ready to exploit it.”
― Richard Dawkins
KORSAKOFF SYNDROME
● late neuropsychiatric manifestation of Wernicke encephalopathy
● selective anterograde and retrograde amnesia
● medial temporal lobes involved
● most frequently in alcohol abusers after an episode of WE
● KS can occur in the absence of ethanol ingestion
Clinical features
● Confabulation
● marked deficits in anterograde and retrograde memory
● Apathy
● intact sensorium
● relative preservation of long-term memory
● Attention and social behavior are relatively preserved
● as a rule unaware of their illness.
Ix
● MRI
○ anterior thalamus
○ mamillary bodies
○ medial thalami
○ corpus callosum
Treatment and prognosis
*Patients with KS rarely recover
Anecdotal reports of improvement in attention and memory with the use of acetylcholinesterase
inhibitors and memantine
Non nobis solum nati sumus
(​Not for ourselves alone are we born​)
-Dr. Eashan Srivastava