[Role of the abstinence syndrome in the development of alcoholic encephalopathy].

Using the complement fixation test cerebral antibodies were examined in the blood serum of 389 patients with alcoholism (Stage II). Patients with the alcoholic abstinence syndrome and those with acute psychoses of the abstinence period tended to display such antibodies significantly more frequently than the control group. This evidence points to a destructive organic (encephalopathic) nature of pathologic process in both cases. The use of acupuncture in controlling the abstinence syndrome is substantiated pathogenetically.