PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - P J Visser
AU  - L Krabbendam
AU  - F R J Verhey
AU  - P A M Hofman
AU  - W M A Verhoeven
AU  - S Tuinier
AU  - A Wester
AU  - Y W M M Van Den Berg
AU  - L F M Goessens
AU  - Y D Van Der Werf
AU  - J Jolles
TI  - Brain correlates of memory dysfunction in alcoholic Korsakoff's syndrome
AID  - 10.1136/jnnp.67.6.774
DP  - 1999 Dec 01
TA  - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
PG  - 774--778
VI  - 67
IP  - 6
4099  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/67/6/774.short
4100  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/67/6/774.full
SO  - J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry1999 Dec 01; 67
AB  - OBJECTIVES To investigate the relation between anterograde amnesia and atrophy of brain structures involved in memory processing in alcoholic Korsakoff's syndrome. METHODS The volume of brain structures involved in memory processing was measured with MRI from 13 subjects with Korsakoff's syndrome, 13 subjects with chronic alcoholism without Korsakoff's syndrome, and 13 control subjects. The brain structures analysed were the hippocampus, the parahippocampal gyrus, the mamillary bodies, the third ventricle, and the thalamus. Brain volumes were correlated with the delayed recall of a verbal learning test. RESULTS Compared with subjects with chronic alcoholism and control subjects, subjects with Korsakoff's syndrome had a reduced volume of the hippocampus, the mamillary bodies, and the thalamus, and enlargement of the third ventricle. The impairment of delayed recall correlated with the volume of the third ventricle (r=−0.55, p=0.05) in the Korsakoff group. CONCLUSIONS Anterograde amnesia in alcoholic Korsakoff's syndrome is associated with atrophy of the nuclei in the midline of the thalamus, but not with atrophy of the mamillary bodies, the hippocampus, or the parahippocampal gyrus.