Cognitive impairment and cerebral atrophy in “heavy drinkers”

1. 1. Aim of the work was to verify the following three hypotheses in alcoholics: a) right hemisphere; b) diffuse brain deficit; c) anterior brain deficit, by means of a neuropsychological and a neuroradiological assessment. 2. 2. 15 alcoholic right-hand male subjects and 15 matched controls were en...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry 1999-02, Vol.23 (2), p.243-258
Main Authors: Ratti, Maria T., Soragna, Debora, Sibilla, Luisella, Giardini, Anna, Albergati, Andrea, Savoldi, Faustino, Bo, Paola
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
alcoholism
Alcoholism - physiopathology
Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning
Biological and medical sciences
cerebral atrophy
Cognition Disorders - etiology
cognitive functions
frontal lobe
Frontal Lobe - pathology
Functional Laterality
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Memory
Middle Aged
Neuropsychological Tests
Toxicology
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Summary:1. 1. Aim of the work was to verify the following three hypotheses in alcoholics: a) right hemisphere; b) diffuse brain deficit; c) anterior brain deficit, by means of a neuropsychological and a neuroradiological assessment. 2. 2. 15 alcoholic right-hand male subjects and 15 matched controls were enrolled in the study. 3. 3. Specifically designed neuropsychological testing was performed to investigate logical abilities, selective attention and memory. 4. 4. Neurological investigation was performed by a standard CT scan to assess the degree and localization of brain damage. 5. 5. Alcoholics performed worse than controls on some neuropsychological Tests I.e. Attention Matrices Test, Verbal Judgement Test, Forward Digit Span, Story Recall and Remote Memory Test. The analysis of variance adjusted by the attentional score showed no significant differences between alcoholics and controls. 6. 6. Neuroradiological data showed a preminnent and a more frequent atrophy of the frontal region. 7. 7. No correlations emerged between neuropsychological and neuroradiological data. 8. 8. In conclusion, the hypothesis of anterior brain deficit seems to be confirmed by our study.
ISSN:0278-5846
1878-4216
DOI:10.1016/S0278-5846(98)00103-1