[Neurological complications of chronic alcoholism]

Almost all the patients admitted over a six-month period and treated in the neurological and psychiatric University departments at Lübeck because of alcoholism and its sequelae were submitted to a standardized neuropsychiatric investigation. The diagnosis was confirmed by the Münchner Alkoholismustest (MALT). Alcoholic polyneuropathy was the most frequent neurological sequel, affecting 30% of the 153 patients, followed by delirium tremens with an incidence of 21.6% and by alcohol-induced seizures (20.9%). Wernicke's encephalopathy was diagnosed in 3 cases (2%) and alcoholic cerebellar atrophy in 2 cases (1.2%). Hepatopathy was established in 43.8% of all cases. Neither the duration of alcoholism, the preferred kind of liquor, the patient's social class nor nutritional status showed any significant correlation to the appearance of neurological complications. Delirium tremens and alcohol-induced seizures appeared most frequently in cases with symptoms of diffuse brain damage, as measured by the incidence and severity of organic psychoses. The characteristic features of the various secondary diseases are pointed out and their pathogenetic connections are discussed in the light of the clinical findings.