Een alcoholist met verlaagd bewustzijn en paratonie

A 69-year-old man presented with decreased consciousness and a puzzling muscle paratonia. MRI showed extensive white matter abnormalities with diffusion restriction in the corpus callosum, consistent with Marchiafava-Bignami disease, a rare complication of chronic alcohol abuse. The phenomenon of paratonia should have raised a clinical suspicion towards endstage neurodegenerative disease.

Conflict of interest and financial support: ICMJE forms provided by the authors are available online along with the full text of this article.