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Alcoholism as a Cause of General Paralysis [L'Alcoolismo come Causa della Paralisi generale]. (Ann. di Nevrol., Anno xix, fasc. 2.) Seppili

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2018

Extract

The author, studying the ætiology in 102 cases (78 males and 24 females) of general paralysis admitted under his care to the Brescia asylum between 1894 and 1900, found 16 cases (13 males and 3 females) in which alcoholism appeared to him to be the sole cause of the disease. He gives in this paper a very brief résumé of the clinical history of these cases, and of the macroscopic brain lesions noted in ten of them. He finds that alcohol is capable of generating a true general paralysis, and that cases of alcoholic origin do not differ in any respect from cases of other causation. In six of his cases the disease was of the exalted type, in one of the hypochondriacal, and in nine of the simple demented type. The cases ran a progressive course without remission, terminating fatally in from two to three years. The distinctive characters which some authors assign to alcoholic general paralysis or pseudo-general paralysis—generalised tremor, slightness of speech trouble, frequency of remission, etc.—were not noted. Hallucinations and the delirium of conjugal infidelity, also said to be specially common in such cases, were only found in one instance.

Type
Epitome of Current Literature
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1902 

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