Summary
Magnetic resonance imaging of the intracranial CSF volume was compared before and after 5 weeks of confirmed abstinence in 9 alcohol-dependent patients. All patients showed a highly significant reduction in CSF volume in accordance with reexpansion of the brain after alcohol abstinence. T2 values for white matter, estimated by linear regression from 16 echoes of a CPGM sequence, however, showed no significant increase such as occurs in rehydration. This indicates, that alcohol-induced reversible brain atrophy cannot be attributed to fluctuation of free water in the brain only.
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Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 307, B3)
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Schroth, G., Naegele, T., Klose, U. et al. Reversible brain shrinkage in abstinent alcoholics, measured by MRI. Neuroradiology 30, 385–389 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00404102
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00404102