pontine myelinolisis

Electrolyte and acid-base disturbances are common occurrences in daily clinical practice. Although these abnormalities can be readily ascertained from routine laboratory findings, only specific clinical correlates may attest as to their significance. Among a wide phenotypic spectrum, acute electrolyte and acid-base disturbances may affect the peripheral nervous system as arreflexic weakness (hypermagnesemia, hyperkalemia, and hypophosphatemia), the central nervous system as epileptic encephalopathies (hypomagnesemia, dysnatremias, and hypocalcemia), or both as a mixture of encephalopathy and weakness or paresthesias (hypocalcemia, alkalosis)...

INTRODUCTION: Extrapontine myelinolisis is a rare condition caused by severe hydroelectrolytic disorders. Following an initial stage of diffuse encephalopathy, the neurological sequelae are usually of diffuse cognitive deficits and extrapyramidal or cortico-bulbo-spinal disorders. We report a case of extrapontine myelinolisis following hypertonic peritoneal lavage due to rupture of a hydatid cyst of the liver (HCL), which was followed by a syndrome of isolated amnesia due to bilateral hippocampal lesions...