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Sustained alcohol intake can predispose to acute neurochemical changes which, with continued ingestion and incomplete treatment, can lead to chronic structural changes in the CNS: these include generalised cortical and cerebellar atrophy, amnesic syndromes such as Korsakoff\u2019s syndrome, and specific white matter disorders such as central pontine myelinolysis and Marchiafava\u2013Bignami syndrome. Alcohol in pregnancy commonly and significantly affects fetal health, though this receives less medical and political attention than other causes of fetal harm. This review looks at the range of disorders that can follow acute or chronic alcohol use, and how these should be managed, and we provide a practical overview on how neurologists might diagnose and manage alcohol addiction.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/pn-2023-003817","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,16]],"date-time":"2023-06-16T13:22:42Z","timestamp":1686921762000},"page":"273-285","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":21,"title":["Alcohol and the central nervous system"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"23","author":[{"given":"Maytal","family":"Wolfe","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK"},{"name":"Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Arun","family":"Menon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK"},{"name":"Gartnavel Royal Hospital, Glasgow, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maria","family":"Oto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Natasha E","family":"Fullerton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK"},{"name":"Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2086-9937","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"John-Paul","family":"Leach","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025090411513161000_23.4.273.1","unstructured":"WHO . 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