Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] My father is 78 years old frail elderly, lives alone and H/O alcohol misuse and abuse. He had a CT Scan yesterday and he has been diagnosed with moderate ischemic atrophy and he is being referred to the hospital for further tests. Query encephalitis , I think that is sthe medical term. Can you explain what this means and will he be assessed by a psychogeriatrician in the hospital. GP is not recommending asperine for furing of the arteries in the brain because fo h/o alcohol misuse. Does this diagnosis mean shrinkage of the brain and what will the long term diagnosis mean. Help
[|AI|]  Hi, Thank you for posting your query. Atrophy means shrinkage of brain. This is a normal process with aging. In addition, chronic alcohol use would have contributed to that. Whether the brain atrophy is clinically significant or not can be decided if one examines his memory and other mental functions. A decline in memory and other cognitive functions would make this atrophy significant. Ischemia means lack of blood flow to the brain. If it is significant then aspirin would be recommended.  Best wishes, Chat Doctor.