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Enlargement of cerebrospinal fluid spaces in long-term benzodiazepine abusers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

C. Schmauss  and
J.-C. Krieg
C. Schmauss*
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institute for Psychiatry, Munich, FRG
J.-C. Krieg
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institute for Psychiatry, Munich, FRG
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Claudia Schmauss, Section of Molecular Neurobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St., New Haven, Connecticut, 06510 USA
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Synopsis

In 17 benzodiazepine (BDZ) dependent in-patients a CT scan was performed before initiation of withdrawal therapy. The evaluation of the ventricular to brain ratio (VBR) by standardized and computerized measurements revealed significantly higher mean VBRs for both high-and low-dose BDZ-dependent patients compared to the mean VBR of an age- and sex-matched control group. In addition, the mean VBR of high-dose BDZ-dependent patients (N = 8) was significantly higher than the mean VBR of low-dose BDZ-dependent patients (N = 9). This difference could not be accounted for by the age of the patients or duration of BDZ-dependency and, therefore, suggests a dose-dependent effect of BDZs on the enlargement of internal CSF-spaces. On the other hand, higher values for the width of external CSF-spaces were found to be related to increasing age of the patients and duration of BDZ-dependency.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , November 1987 , pp. 869 - 873
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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