[Alcohol withdrawal syndrome and delirium tremens. Their treatment]

The clinical picture of alcohol withdrawal syndrome lies somewhere on a continuum that ranges from slight morning tremor to genuine delirium tremens. The diagnosis, usually easy, may be beset with several traps: alcoholism may be unrecognized, or a diagnosis other than withdrawal syndrome may be wrongly made, or again a complication may be either overlooked or erroneously suspected. An acute withdrawal syndrome normally regresses in less than one week, but a subacute withdrawal syndrome, which presents as signs of residual hyperexcitability of the central nervous system, must be recognized, as it may persist for several months. Beside delirium tremens, with its mandatory and well-established treatment, prevention of alcohol withdrawal syndrome and treatment of its initial stages raise no problems, as it consists above all of psychotherapy combined by such tranquillizers as febarbamate or a benzodiazepine taken in well-specified dosage.