Consultation-Liaison Case Conference: Altered Mental Status and Hallucinations in Alcohol Use.

We present a case of a middle-aged man brought to the hospital for altered mental status and hallucinations in a background of chronic alcohol use. Top experts in the consultation-liaison field provide guidance for this commonly encountered clinical case based on their experience and a review of the available literature. Key teaching topics include a differential for and distinguishing features of hallucinations in the setting of alcohol use, risk stratification and selection of agents for alcohol withdrawal management, and prevention of neurological injury in Wernicke-Korsakoff. Specifically, the differential diagnosis for hallucinations in alcohol withdrawal syndrome contains delirium in addition to delirium tremens as many patients do not progress to severe withdrawal syndrome. Symptom triggered protocols for alcohol withdrawal may be less reliable in general hospital settings due to limitations such as confounding medical comorbidities, and selecting an agent for management is based on clinical presentation, properties of the agents, and risk of severe symptoms.