Longitudinal MRI investigations show that the ventricles become smaller following weeks (Schroth et al. 1988; Zipursky et al. 1989) or months (Shear et al. 1994) of drinking cessation. Reduction of lateral ventricles precedes reduction of third-ventricular volume (Pfefferbaum et al. 1995) and may be related to improvements in hematocrit, hemoglobin, and red blood cell counts (Pfefferbaum et al. 2004). The following brain structures increase in volume in response to abstinence: the entire cerebral cortex (Liu et al. 2000); temporal, insular, and anterior cingulate cortices (Cardenas et al. 2007); amygdala (Wrase et al. 2008) (a finding that would argue against a premorbid volume deficit); thalamus (Cardenas et al. 2007); hippocampus (Liu et al. 2000, Wrase et al. 2008); brainstem; and cerebellar cortex (Cardenas et al. 2007; Liu et al. 2000).
