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Twenty-two institutionalized alcoholics were studied after 1, 3, 5 and 7 weeks of abstinence with measurements of the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), psychometric testing and clinical ratings. Twenty-two healthy volunteers served as age-matched controls. Mean rCBF was significantly reduced in the alcoholics at all measurements compared to the controls. The older alcoholics (median cut) showed a 9% increase of rCBF from the 1st to the 7th week (P less than 0.01). The mean rCBF in these alcoholics also increased more in the right than in the left hemisphere (P less than 0.05) during the investigation. The differences between the alcoholics and the controls were most pronounced in the right frontal lobe. The mean flow changes were correlated to improvement in clinical state. Right hemisphere and frontal lobe flow decreases were more accentuated in older alcoholics.

Thirty-three brain tumor patients were investigated with quantitative and qualitative neuropsychological assessments, systematic behavioral observations, and recordings of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF). Patients with supratentorial highly malignant gliomas showed severe disturbances of attention, lack of control overpremotor and executive functions, distractibility, and a deficient abstract attitude, as well as a loss of speech initiative and diminished speech production. Such impairments are associated with the functions of the frontal lobe system and may be related to frontal functional cortical changes as mirrored by rCBF. Signs of frontal dysfunction were seen in subjects with nonfrontal tumors and may suggestfrontal lobe diaschisis in patients with Grade III-W astrocytomas.

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