White matter microstructural recovery with abstinence and decline with relapse in alcohol dependence interacts with normal ageing: a controlled longitudinal DTI study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Alcohol dependence exacts a toll on brain white matter microstructure, which has the potential of repair with prolonged sobriety. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) enables in-vivo quantification of tissue constituents and localisation of tracts potentially affected in alcohol dependence and its recovery. We did an extended longitudinal study of alcoholism's trajectory of effect on selective fibre bundles with sustained sobriety or decline with relapse.

Methods

Participants were drawn from a longitudinal, 1·5T DTI database of 841 scans of individuals with various medical or neuropsychiatric conditions and normal ageing. Participants diagnosed with alcohol dependence had to meet the criteria from DSM-IV for alcohol dependence. Controls were screened and free of any DSM

SUBMITTER: Pfefferbaum A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4750405 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature