Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T18:54:13.839Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Alcoholism and dementia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

W.A. van Gool
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The controversy concerning the concept ‘alcoholic dementia’ is reviewed in brief. Evidence from neuroradiological and neuropathological studies contribute little to the solution of this controversy, if dementia is considered as a clinical syndrome. From clinical descriptions it can be concluded that a sub-population of alcoholics suffers from a syndrome typified by psychologic disturbances other than amnesia alone. These patients fulfill the criteria for the syndromal diagnosis of ‘dementia’.

The nosologic concept of ‘alcoholic dementia’ implies a direct neurotoxic effect of alcohol and it raises questions concerning pathogenetic mechanisms which can not be answered. The DSM-III-R category ‘dementia associated with alcoholism’ represents a solution for this controversy, because it gives a correct and complete (radically syndromal) clinical description without making assumptions on the relative contribution of multiple factors causing cognitive disturbances in alcoholics.

Keywords

alcoholalcoholismdementiaalcoholalcoholismedementie
Type
Research Article
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , June 1991 , pp. 26 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © Scandinavian College of Neuropsychopharmacology 1991

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

Literatuur

1.Victor, M. Adams, RD, Collins, GH. The Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome and Related Neurologic Disorders Due to Alcoholism and Malnutrition. Philadelphia: FA Davis 1989.Google Scholar
2.Lishman, WA. Cerebral disorders in alcoholism, syndromes of impairment. Brain 1981;104:1–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.Tilburg, W. van. Jonker, C. Eikelenboom P. Classificatie in de Psychogeriatrie. Nijmegen. SOOM: 1987.Google Scholar
4.Schulte, BPM. Consensus diagnostiek bij het dementiesyndroom. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd 1989;133:981–5.Google Scholar
5.Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (third edition, revised). Washington: American Psychiatric Association. 1987.Google Scholar
6.Carlen, PL. Wortzman, G. Holgate, RC. Wilkinson, DA. Rankin, JC. Reversible cerebral atrophy in recently abstinent chronic alcoholics measured by computed tomography scans. Science 1978;200:1076–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7.Carlen, PL. Wilkinson, DA, Wortzman, G, Holgate, R. Partially reversible cerebral atrophy and functional improvement in recently abstinent alcoholics. Can J neurol Sci 1984; 11:441–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.Schroth, G, Naegele, T. Klose, U. Mann, K. Petersen, D. Reversible brain shrinkage in abstinent alcoholics, measured by MRI. Neuroradiol 1988;30:385–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9.DeCarli, C. Kaye, JA, Horwitz, B. Rapoport, SI. Critical analysis of the use of computer-assisted transverse axial tomography to study human brain in aging and dementia of the Alzheimer type. Neurology 1990;40:872–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10.Derix, MMA, Hijdra, A. Corticale en subcorticale dementie, een zinvol onderscheid? Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd 1987;131:1070–4.Google Scholar