Correlations between cerebral grey matter flow and hepatic histology in alcoholism

Thirty alcoholic with a mean age of 44.8 years were examined with the intravenous 133-Xenon method for measurements of regional cerebral flow (rCBF). The results were related to liver histology and hepatic function tests. While there exists no correlation between the rCBF values and hepatic function tests, an important connection between rCBF decrease and the severity of the histological liver analysis is shown. It is suggested that the hepatic biopsy is a good criterion for the long-term evaluation of alcohol impact upon the brain of a given individual and some physiopathological mechanism are discussed.