Aims: Early clinical electroencephalographers reported that low-voltage fast desynchronized patterns were frequently seen in chronic alcoholism, suggesting hyperarousal of the central nervous system (CNS). The aim of the present study was to investigate the brain function of drug-free, detoxified alcoholics, and compare this with that of normal controls, utilizing computerized quantitative EEG analysis and subsequent EEG mapping. Moreover, differences between patients relapsing or abstaining during 6 months of relapse prevention therapy, pharmacologically supported by either flupentixol decanoate 10 mg or placebo i.m. every 2 weeks, were determined.
Methods: 22 drug-free, detoxified patients (15 men, seven women) aged between 27 and 58 (mean 41.5 +/- 8.1) years, diagnosed as alcohol-dependent (ICD-10: F10.23) were included in the study. They were subdivided into abstainers (n = 11) and relapsers (n = 11), and matched with normal healthy controls according to age (mean 41.5 +/- 8.4 years) and sex. A 3-min vigilance-controlled EEG (V-EEG) was obtained and analysed off-line by multi-lead EEG power spectral analysis and subsequent mapping methods.
Results: The drug-free, detoxified, alcohol-dependent patients showed, as compared with controls, aberrant brain function characterized by a decrease in delta and slow alpha and an increase in beta activity as well as an acceleration of the total centroid. These findings were more pronounced in relapsing than in abstaining patients. After 6 months of treatment, abstaining patients showed an increase in slow activity, a decrease in fast alpha, an acceleration of the delta/theta centroid and a deceleration of the alpha centroid, reflecting a normalization of brain function.
Conclusion: EEG maps of alcohol-dependent patients differ significantly from those of normal controls and patients suffering from other mental disorders and thus EEG mapping may be used for diagnostic purposes. Moreover, the quantitative EEG may also be of prognostic value as relapsing patients differ from abstaining ones, since they show a significantly more pronounced hyperarousal of the CNS.