Second World Congress on Alcohol and Alcoholism Cracow, Poland

First oral communication by Anne-Lise Pitel: Direct comparison of brain volumes within the Papez’s circuit in Alzheimer disease and Korsakoff’s syndrome

We compared gray matter volumes in several regions of the Papez’s circuit in patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) and Korsakoff’s syndrome (KS), two major neurocognitive disorders characterized by severe episodic memory impairments. Taking account of age difference, we group similar regional atrophy in the cingulate cortex and anterior thalamus in AD patients at moderate and severe stages and in KS, which suggests common mechanisms in the pathophysiology of amnesia whatever the etiology and questions the relevance of the classical distinction between hippocampal and diencephalic amnesia. Shrinkage of the MTT was present in the KS group only, indicating a potential signature of the disease. The hippocampi were affected in all patient groups but more severely in the sever AD group. These data highlight the relevance of studying the anterior thalamus in AD and the hippocampus in KS.

Second speech by Anne-Lise Pitel : A volumetric exploration of insula in alcohol use disorder and Korsakoff’s syndrome: let’s go back to basics

Insula has been hypothesized as playing a key role in severe alcohol use disorder (SAUD), notably based on its implication in the conscious urge (i.e., craving) to consume. We used MRI to examine the anatomical subdivisions of the insula in SAUD patients with and without Korsakoff’s syndrome (KS). We found that insular macrostructure was affected to the same extent in SAUD with and without KS, suggesting that there may be no recovery of insular volumes after drinking cessation, patients with KS showing much longer abstinence duration than patients with SAUD. Insular atrophy could thus be premorbid to SAUD and represent a risk factor to develop AUD. In SAUD patients, insular atrophy was especially marked in the posterior insula, a region associated with processing of visceral information and potentially related to craving.