Bariatric Wernicke's encephalopathy

I agree with Velotti, Vitiello, Berardi, Milone and Musella that thiamine deficiency is an underestimated risk of bariatric surgery. It is better to prevent than to treat vitamine B1 deficiency early on. Also, the risk for thiamine deficiency is chronic after the bariatric procedures, therefore indeed chronic prophylaxis is required. One finding from our systematic research on bariatric Wernicke's Encephalopathy patients was that many patients (up to 30 –35%) do not go to follow-up meetings following a bariatric intervention, suggesting that the prophylactic treatment plans for thiamine deficiency should be discussed in the first meeting with the patient [1].
Source: Journal of the Neurological Sciences - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Response to letter to the Editor Source Type: research