Morphological and Glucose Metabolism Abnormalities in Alcoholic Korsakoff's Syndrome: Group Comparisons and Individual Analyses |
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Authors: | Anne-Lise Pitel Anne-Marie Aupée Ga?l Chételat Florence Mézenge Hélène Beaunieux Vincent de la Sayette Fausto Viader Jean-Claude Baron Francis Eustache Béatrice Desgranges |
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Institution: | 1. Inserm – EPHE – Université de Caen/Basse-Normandie, Unité U923, GIP Cyceron, CHU Côte de Nacre, Caen, France.; 2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States of America.; 3. CHU Cote de Nacre, Département de Neurologie, Caen, France.; 4. University of Cambridge, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Neurology Unit, Cambridge, United Kingdom.;University of Granada, Spain |
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Abstract: | BackgroundGray matter volume studies have been limited to few brain regions of interest, and white matter and glucose metabolism have received limited research attention in Korsakoff''s syndrome (KS). Because of the lack of brain biomarkers, KS was found to be underdiagnosed in postmortem studies.Methodology/Principal FindingsNine consecutively selected patients with KS and 22 matched controls underwent both structural magnetic resonance imaging and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography examinations. Using a whole-brain analysis, the between-group comparisons of gray matter and white matter density and relative glucose uptake between patients with KS and controls showed the involvement of both the frontocerebellar and the Papez circuits, including morphological abnormalities in their nodes and connection tracts and probably resulting hypometabolism. The direct comparison of the regional distribution and degree of gray matter hypodensity and hypometabolism within the KS group indicated very consistent gray matter distribution of both abnormalities, with a single area of significant difference in the middle cingulate cortex showing greater hypometabolism than hypodensity. Finally, the analysis of the variability in the individual patterns of brain abnormalities within our sample of KS patients revealed that the middle cingulate cortex was the only brain region showing significant GM hypodensity and hypometabolism in each of our 9 KS patients.Conclusions/SignificanceThese results indicate widespread brain abnormalities in KS including both gray and white matter damage mainly involving two brain networks, namely, the fronto-cerebellar circuit and the Papez circuit. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the middle cingulate cortex may play a key role in the pathophysiology of KS and could be considered as a potential in vivo brain biomarker. |
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