Alcohol and the human brain: a systematic review of different neuroimaging methods
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Imaging techniques have been in widespread use in the scientific community for more than 3 decades. They facilitate noninvasive, in vivo studies of the human brain in both healthy and diseased persons. These brain-imaging techniques have contributed significantly to our understanding of the effects of alcohol abuse and dependence on structural and functional changes in the human brain. A systematic review summarizing these contributions has not previously been conducted, and this is the goal of the current paper.
METHODS: The databases PubMed, PsycINFO, and PSYNDEX were searched using central key words. Fulfilling the inclusion criteria were 140 functional and structural imaging studies, together comprising data from more than 7,000 patients and controls. The structural imaging techniques we considered were cranial computerized tomography and various magnetic resonance imaging-based techniques, including voxel-based morphometry, deformation-based morphometry, diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging, and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. The functional methods considered were magnetic resonance spectroscopy, positron emission tomography, single photon emission computed tomography, and functional magnetic resonance imaging.
RESULTS: Results from studies using structural imaging techniques have revealed that chronic alcohol use is accompanied by volume reductions of gray and white matter, as well as microstructural disruption of various white matter…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a systematic review, done in people. Its evidence level is 1 of 5 (Highest · pooled evidence). Pooled evidence from several studies sits at the top of the evidence pyramid. Reported size: 7,000 participants or records.
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