[So-called sporadic ulcero-mutilating acropathy: neuropsychological study of 10 cases. II]

Ten patients complaining of Sporadic Ulcerating and Mutilating Acropathy (SUMA) of Bureau and Barrière, also known as alcoholic-acrodystrophic neuropathy, were given the Wechsler-Bellevue's intelligence test (form I) and the Rey's memory test for standard psychometric evaluation. Pathologic mental deterioration of an organic type was found in a very large number of cases: 7 out of 10. The psychical picture that has been recognised is of three kinds: I) homogeneous mental deterioration of verbal and performance skills without any important memory feebleness (4 cases); II) partial mental deterioration shown by memory impairment as a single defect (1 case); III) total deterioration: kind I and II together (2 cases). The SUMA organic brain syndrome has not distinctive features as regards to common chronic alcoholism, but one can believe that it reveals itself with a higher frequency. This is likely to be in connection with a high individual susceptibility to the noxious effect of alcohol (wine) intake. Cerebral and peripheral neuronal damage seems to be established with the same developing modality during the time.