Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome is actually not one, but two separate disorders that may occur independently or concurrently. However, they are often described together as Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome.

Cause

Korsakoff's Syndrome is a result of a thiamine deficiency. Usually, this thiamine deficiency occurs from chronic alcoholism, although it is possible to result simply from a poor diet. This dificiency results in depletion of norepinephrine and hippocampal cell death.

Symptoms

Patients with Wernicke-Korsakoff can experience paralysis of eye muscles, extreme memory loss, and dementia . ["Thiamine." 2000]

Patients with Korsakoff's suffer from anterograde amnesia , meaning they have trouble making new memories. (Mayes, 1988) (Benjamin, Hopkins, & Nation, 1994. p.283)