Occipital Lobe Metabolic Aberrations in Alcohol Dependents: An in-vivo Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Study

Deepika Bagga¹, Namita Singh¹, Shilpi Modi¹, Pawan Kumar¹, Debajyoti Bhattacharya², Mohan Lal Garg³, subash khushu¹

Proton in vivo Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) study on occipital lobe was performed on alcohol dependents and healthy controls to look for the metabolic aberrations underlying the visual information processing deficits observed in alcohol dependents as assessed by PGIBBD(PGI-Battery of Brain Dysfunction).A significant reduction in NAA/Cr and Glx/Cr ratios and a significant increase in Cho/Cr and Ins/Cr ratios was observed which could possibly account for impaired visual skills (as indicated by higher dysfunction rating scores) in alcohol dependents.