The neurologic complications of alcoholism

Neurologic complications may appear before the primary disease, alcoholism, is recognized. The common syndromes are polyneuropathy, the withdrawal syndrome and the combination of Wernicke's encephalopathy and Korsakoff's psychosis. Other conspicuous clinical pictures include ataxia of cerebellar origin, convulsions, acute hallucinosis, myopathy and coma. Rarer disorders are Marchiafava-Bignami disease and central pontine myelinolysis.