Parkinsonism in alcohol withdrawal: A follow‐up study

Transient parkinsonism associated with alcohol intake and withdrawal has previously been described. We followed‐up three patients with acute alcohol withdrawal‐induced parkinsonism 9–11 years after their initial presentation. None showed any evidence of parkinsonism at follow‐up. This suggests that withdrawal‐induced parkinsonism is caused by a completely reversible abnormality in nigrostriatal dopamine transmission, which is unaccompanied by underlying nigral degeneration, as we had previously hypothesized.

[1]  S. Liljequist.  Changes in the sensitivity of dopamine receptors in the nucleus accumbens and in the striatum induced by chronic ethanol administration. , 2009, Acta pharmacologica et toxicologica.

[2]  L. Wahlund,et al.  Parkinsonism and dyskinesias during ethanol withdrawal. , 1988, British journal of addiction.

[3]  W. Koller.  Alcohol and Parkinson disease , 1983, Annals of neurology.

[4]  L. Fornazzari,et al.  Transient Choreiform Dyskinesias During Alcohol Withdrawal , 1982, Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences / Journal Canadien des Sciences Neurologiques.

[5]  P. Carlen,et al.  Parkinsonism provoked by alcoholism , 1981, Annals of neurology.

[6]  H. Lai,et al.  Effects of ethanol on central dopamine functions. , 1980, Life sciences.

[7]  W. A. Hunt,et al.  Reduction of striatal dopamine release during an ethanol withdrawal syndrome , 1977, Journal of neurochemistry.

[8]  P W Kershaw,et al.  Choreoathetotic Movement Disorder in Alcoholism , 1970, British medical journal.

[9]  M. Victor,et al.  The Role of Abstinence in the Genesis of Alcoholic Epilepsy , 1967, Epilepsia.

[10]  R. Bhatnagar,et al.  The effects of subhypnotic doses of ethanol on regional catecholamine turnover. , 1978, The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics.