About 350 people die each year form alcohol-related pancreatitis. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant and effects such as intoxication and black-outs are felt immediately. Brain damage Prolonged heavy drinking is linked to some specific forms of brain damage. Onset of this condition can be quite sudden, in days or even hours, and needs emergency treatment in hospital. It can be diagnosed by a blood test and treated by injections of thiamine.
Autopsies often reveal undiagnosed cases.
If Wernicke s encephalopathy is left untreated, Korsakoff s syndrome can develop. It is signified by profound memory loss - both the ability to recall events and to form new memories. Korsakoff patients often fill out their memory gaps with elaborate fantasies, a process known as confabulation. This state is sometimes treatable by prolonged thiamine treatment and abstention from alcohol, but improvement is only seen in about a third of cases. Korsakoff s syndrome can also sometimes develop without Wernicke s encephalopathy.