Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-d8cs5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T01:51:10.233Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Brain damage in chronic alcoholism: a neuropathological, neuroradiological and psychological review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

M. A. Ron
M. A. Ron*
Affiliation:
Maudsley Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr M. A. Ron, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

The review deals with the possibility of diffuse brain damage, not always clinically obvious, in chronic alcoholics. Some of its implications are discussed with special reference to the role of frontal lobe damage. The main areas of enquiry-neuropathological, neuroradiological and psychological – are considered in detail.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , February 1977 , pp. 103 - 112
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Allen, R. P., Faillace, L. A., & Reynolds, D. H. (1971). Recovery of memory functioning in alcoholics following prolonged alcohol intoxication. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 153, 417–426.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Åmark, C. (1951). A study in alcoholism, clinical, social-psychiatric and genetic investigations. Acta Psychiatrica et Neurologica Scandinavica, Suppl. 70.Google ScholarPubMed
Bauer, R. W. & Johnson, D. R. (1957). The question of deterioration in alcoholism. Journal of Consulting Psychology 21, 296.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Booker, H. E., Matthews, C. G. & Whitehurst, W. R. (1969). Pneumoencephalography planimetry in neurological disease. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 32, 241–248.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brewer, C. & Perrett, L. (1971). Brain damage due to alcohol consumption: an air-encephalographic psychometric and electroencephalographic study. British Journal of Addiction 66, 170–182.Google ScholarPubMed
Bull, J. W. D. (1961). The volume of the cerebral ventricles. Neurology 11, 1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bull, J. W. D. (1971). Cerebral atrophy in young Cannabis smokers. Lancet ii, 1420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlsson, C., Claesson, L. E., Karlsson, K. I. & Petterson, L. (1970). Brain damage in chronic alcoholism. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica Suppl. 217, 57–58.Google Scholar
Carlsson, C., Claesson, L. E. & Petterson, L. (1973). Psychometric signs of cerebral dysfunction in alcoholism. British Journal of Addiction 68, 83–86.Google Scholar
Clarke, J. & Haughton, H. (1975). A study of intellectual impairment and recovery rates in heavy drinkers in Ireland. British Journal of Psychiatry 126, 178–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Courville, C. B. (1955). Effects of Alcohol on the Nervous System of Man. San Lucas Press: Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Delay, J., Brion, S., Escourolle, R. & Sanchez, A. (1960). Démences alcooliques. Pseudoparalysis généale alcoolique et lésions cortico-calleuses. La Presse Médicale 68, 715–717.Google Scholar
Dreyfus, P. M. (1974). Diseases of the nervous system in chronic alcoholics. In The Biology of Alcoholism, vol. 3 (ed. Kissin, B. & Begleiter, H.), pp. 265–286. Plenum Press: New York, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, G. (1968). Patients with drinking problems. British Medical Journal iv, 435–437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrer, S., Santibañez, I., Castro, M., Krauskopf, D. & Saint-Jean, H. (1970). Permanent neurological complications of alcoholism. In Alcohol and Alcoholism (ed. Popham, R. E.), pp. 265–274. The Addiction Research Foundation, University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Fitzhugh, K. B., Fitzhugh, L. C. & Reitan, R. M. (1962). Relation of acuteness of organic brain dysfunction to Trail Making Test performance. Perceptual and Motor Skills 15, 399–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzhugh, L. C., Fitzhugh, K. B. & Reitan, R. M. (1960). Adaptive abilities and intellectual functioning in hospitalized alcoholics. Quarterly Journal of Studies in Alcohol 21, 414–423.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fitzhugh, L.C., Fitzhugh, K. B. & Reitan, R. M. (1965). Adaptive abilities and intellectual functioning of hospitalized chronic alcoholics: further considerations. Quarterly Journal of Studies in Alcohol 26, 402–411.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldstein, G. & Shelly, C. H. (1971). Field dependence and cognitive, perceptual and motor skills in alcoholics. A factor analytic study. Quarterly Journal of Studies in Alcohol 32, 29–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halstead, W. C. (1947). Brain and Intelligence: A Quantitative Study of the Frontal Lobe. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.Google Scholar
Haug, J. O. (1968). Pneumoencephalographic evidence of brain damage in chronic alcoholics. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica Suppl. 203, 135–143.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hécaen, H. & Ajuriaguerra, J. (1956). Les encéphalopathies alcooliques subaïgues et chroniques. Revue Neurologique 94. 528–555.Google Scholar
Hounsfield, G.N. (1973). Computerised transverse axial scanning (tomography). 1. Description of system. British Journal of Radiology 46, 1016–1022.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Iivanainen, M. (1975). Pneumoencephalographic and clinical characteristics of diffuse cerebral atrophy. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica 51, 310–327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jéquier, M. & Wildi, E. (1955). Deux cas de syndrome de Marchiafava-Bignami et de sclérose laminaire corticale associés. Schweizer Archiv für Neurologic und Psychiatrie 75, 77–82.Google Scholar
Jones, B. & Parsons, O. A. (1971). Impaired abstracting ability in chronic alcoholics. Archives of General Psychiatry 24, 71–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jonsson, C. O., Cronholm, B. & Izikowitz, S. (1962). Intellectual changes in alcoholics. Psychometric studies on mental sequels of prolonged intensive abuse of alcohol. Quarterly Journal of Studies in Alcohol 23, 221–242.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kleinknecht, R. A. & Goldstein, S. G. (1972). Neuropsychological deficits associated with alcoholism. Quarterly Journal of Studies in Alcohol 33, 999–1019.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lafon, R., Pages, P., Passouant, P., Labauge, R., Mimvielle, J. & Cadilhac, J. (1956). Les données de la pneumoen céphalographie et de l'électroencéphalogramme au cours de l'alcoolisme chronique. Revue Neurologique 94, 611–616.Google Scholar
Ledesma Jimeno, A. (1958). Estudios neuroencefalográficos en el alcoholismo. Revista Clinica Española 68, 161–171.Google Scholar
Lemere, F. (1956). The nature and significance of brain damage from alcoholism. American Journal of Psychiatry 113, 361–362.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lerebouillet, J., Pluvinage, R. & Amstutz, C. (1956). Aspects cliniques et électroencéphalographiques des atrophies cérébrales alcooliques. Revue Neurologique 94, 674–682.Google Scholar
Long, J. A. & McLachlan, J. F. C. (1974). Abstract reasoning and perceptual motor efficiency in alcoholics. Impairment and reversibility. Quarterly Journal of Studies in Alcohol 35, 1220–1229.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luria, A. R. (1969). The frontal lobe syndromes. In Handbook of Clinical Neurology, vol. 2 (ed. Vinken, Bruyn), pp. 725–753. North Holland Publishing Co.: Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Lynch, M. J. G. (1960). Brain lesions in chrcnic alcoholics. Archives of Pathology 69, 342–353.Google Scholar
Mancall, E. C. (1961). Some unusual neurological diseases complicating chronic alcoholism. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 9, 404–413.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mann, A. H. (1973). Cortical atrophy and air encephalography: a clinical and radiological study. Psychological Medicine 3, 374–378.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nielsen, R., Petersen, O., Thygesen, P. & Willanger, R. (1966). Encephalographic ventricular atrophy. Relationships between size of ventricular system and intellectual impairment. Acta Radiologica 4, 240–256.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Page, R. D. & Linden, J. D. (1974). ‘Reversible’ organic brain syndrome in alcoholics. A psychometric evaluation. Quarterly Journal of Studies in Alcohol 35, 98–107.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peters, G. A. (1956). Emotional and intellectual concomitants of advanced chronic alcoholism. Journal of Consulting Psychology 20, 390.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Postel, J. & Cossa, P. (1956). L'atrophie cérébrate des alcooliques chroniques, étude pneumonencéphalographique. Revue Neurologique 94, 604–606.Google Scholar
Reitan, R. M. (1955). The relation of the Trail Making Test to organic brain damage. Journal of Consulting Psychology 19, 393–394.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reitan, R. M. (1959). The comparative effects of brain damage on the Halstead Impairment Index and the Wechsler–Bellevue Scale. Journal of Clinical Psychology 15, 281–285.3.0.CO;2-D>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Riboldi, A. & Garavaglia, G. (1966). Sulle turbe mnesiche in un grupo di soggetti alcoolisti cronici. Giornale di Psichiatria e di Neuropatologia 3, 775–816.Google Scholar
Smith, J. W., Burt, D. W. & Chapman, R. F. (1973). Intelligence and brain damage in alcoholics. A study in patients of middle and upper social class. Quarterly Journal of Studies in Alcohol 34, 414–422.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spreen, D. & Benton, A. L. (1965). Comparative studies of some psychological tests for brain damage. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 140, 323–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tumarkin, B., Wilson, J. D. & Snyder, G. (1955). Cerebral atrophy due to alcoholism in young adults. U.S. Armed Forces Medical Journal 6, 57–74.Google ScholarPubMed
Victor, M., Adams, R. D. & Collins, G. H. (1971). The Wernicke–Korsakoff Syndrome. Contemporary Neurology Series. Blackwell: Oxford.Google ScholarPubMed
Warner, F. J. (1934). The brain changes in chronic alcoholism and Korsakow's psychosis. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 80, 629–644.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1941). The effect of alcohol on mental activity. Quarterly Journal of Studies in Alcohol 2, 479–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willanger, R., Thygesen, P., Nielsen, R. & Petersen, O. (1968). Intellectual impairment and cerebral atrophy. A psychological, neurological and radiological investigation. Danish Medical Bulletin 15, 65–94.Google ScholarPubMed
Willanger, R. (1970). Intellectual Impairment in Diffuse Cerebral Lesions. Munksgaard: Copenhagen.Google Scholar
World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe (1973). Existing Patterns of Services for Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.Google Scholar