[Morphology of the brain and heart in alcoholic psychoses].

The authors studied the brain and heart of 40 patients (30 males and 10 females) who were hospitalized with the clinical diagnosis of alcoholic delirium, Gaye-Wernike's encephalopathy, and acute alcoholic intoxication due to chronic alcoholism. The morphological alterations in the brain and heart were as follows: compromised vascular permeability, dystrophic changes in the neurons and cardiomyocytes, proliferative reaction of microgliocytes and the development of small cardiosclerosis. Such disorders can be defined as an exacerbation of chronic alcoholic encephalopathy and cardiomyodystrophy. Alcoholic damage to the heart seems to be one of the additional factors that disrupt cerebral hemodynamics which results in hypoxia of the cerebral tissue and is accompanied by impairment of the central regulation of cardiac activity and progression of cerebral changes, i. e. the pathological process develops according to the vicious circle principle.