ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION. Despite the fact that more 120 years have passed since the first mention of Marchiafava-Bignami disease, the issues of etiology, pathogenesis, MRI and treatment of this disease are still not fully resolved. However mortality rate remains high. 

AIM. To present a clinical case of a patient with Marchiafava-Bignami disease and discuss issues of diagnosis and treatment of this and other clinical variants of alcohol-induced damage to the nervous system.

СASE PRESENTATION. The case report of 51-year-old woman with Marchiafava-Bignami disease and typical neurological and imaging findings linked to alcohol abuse is presented. She was comorbid hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Are being discussed pathology, pathogenesis, clinical, MRI and therapy.

СONCLUSION. In this case the illness started with a convulsive seizure after alcohol abuse. Then cognitive impairment began to increase. Typical neurological and MRA findings were discovered. Comorbid hypertension and diabetes mellitus ware aggravated the progression. After four months the woman was died at home. No autopsy was performed. 

KEYWORDS: Marchiafava-Bignami disease, MRI, therapy 

For citation: Ponomarev V.V., Boyko A.V., Zhivolupov S.A. Marchiafava-Bignami Disease: Case Report. Comorbidity Neurology. 2026; 3 (2): 69–74. https://doi.org/10.62505/3034-185x-2026-3-2-69-74

*For correspondence: Vladimir V. Ponomarev, Dr. Sci. (Med.), Professor, the Head of the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Institute of Advanced Training and Professional Retraining of Healthcare Workers, Belarusian State Medical University, Minsk, Belarus, e-mail: professor.ponomarev@gmail.com.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Vladimir V. Ponomarev, Dr. Sci. (Med.), Professor, Head of the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Institute of Advanced Training and Professional Retraining of Healthcare Workers, Belarusian State Medical University, Minsk, Belarus. E-mail: professor.ponomarev@gmail.com

Alexander V. Boyko, Dr. Sci. (Med.), Professor of the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Institute of Advanced Training and Professional Retraining of Healthcare Workers, Belarusian State Medical University, Minsk, Belarus. E-mail: aboika@tut.by. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3466-6981

Sergey A. Zhivolupov, Dr. Sci. (Med.), Professor of the Department of Neurology, S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy, St. Petersburg, Russia. 

Author contributions. All authors confirm that their authorship complies with the international ICMJE criteria (all authors made a significant contribution to the conception, conduct of the study and the preparation of the article; read and approved the final version before publication). Special contributions: Ponomarev V.V. – conceptualization, supervision; Boyko A.V., Zhivolupov S.A. – formal analysis, writing – original draft, writing, review & editing.

Funding. The authors declare that there was no external funding for the collection of information and the preparation of the manuscript for publication. 

Disclosure. The authors declare no apparent or potential conflicts of interest related to the publication of this article.

Informed consent for publication. All patients, and if it is impossible to review and sign, persons responsible for the patients (relatives, social workers, etc.) on behalf of the patients undergoing examination and participating in this study, signed informed consent.

The content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

©2026. Vladimir V. Ponomarev, Alexander V. Boyko, Sergei A. Zhivolupov