Marchiafava-Bignami disease treated by mianserin hydrochloride in short-term evaluated by neuropsychological analysis.

Since 1903, Marchiafava-Bignami disease has been recognized as a rare syndrome with focal demyelination and necrosis in the corpus callosum, which is usually found in chronic alcoholics. It extends into the neighboring white matter and occasionally as far as the subcortical regions. We report a Japanese patient with Marchiafava-Bignami disease associated with alcohol abuse, who had traveled around Western Europe, North America and China for more than 30 years. As he suffered extreme delirium in the early stages we administered a low dose (10 mg) of mianserin hydrochloride. He was very irritable and uncooperative on admission, after 20 days his delirium had disappeared and his temper had become very calm and mild. After 40 days, his intelligence level increased substantially as measured by various neuropsychological tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]