Morphologic characteristics of distal intracranial arteries in relation to structural changes in the brain after chronic alcohol consumption.

This study focuses on the structural brain changes, alterations in Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) values, and the morphological characteristics of distal intracranial arteries in chronic alcohol consumption. A total of 50 chronic alcoholics and 43 non-alcoholics were recruited from neurology inpatient and outpatient services. Using the Brainnetome Atlas to segment the brain into 246 regions, ADC values were observed to be consistently higher in alcoholics, with statistically significant differences in 134 of these regions. This number is far greater than the number of brain regions where changes in gray matter volume were observed. The alcohol group exhibited lower mean arterial density, mean arterial radius, and mean arterial tortuosity, along with higher mean arterial flexibility, though mean arterial length did not differ significantly between groups. But correlation analysis revealed a negative relationship between alcohol consumption and mean arterial density and mean arterial length. Gray matter volume was positively correlated with mean arterial length, density, and radius. White matter volume also showed a positive correlation with mean arterial length and density. Conversely, cerebrospinal fluid volume was negatively correlated with mean arterial length and density. These results suggest that the diffusion of water molecules in the brains of alcoholics is altered before observable changes in gray matter structure occur. Changes in cerebrovascular morphology are a contributing factor to the structural brain changes observed in chronic alcoholics.