Patterns of Brain Activation During Craving in Heroin Dependents Successfully Treated by Methadone Maintenance and Abstinence-Based Treatments

Abstract

Heroin avoidance may be achieved by MMT or ABT; however, the neural mechanism underlying these therapeutic methods differs.

Neuroimaging the Effectiveness of Substance Use Disorder Treatments

“…This difference between the pre-dose and post-dose conditions suggests that MMT patients are most vulnerable in the time just before their dose (Langleben et al 2008). These increases in activation persist even though the self-reported craving scores are not significantly different between any of the groups, a result also replicated by other studies (Tabatabaei-Jafari et al 2014;Wang et al 2011;Wang et al 2014).…”

“…Although a number of regions were activated in both conditions, opiate abstinence led to an additional increase in activation in ACC and IFG, suggesting that these regions are involved in drug processing and aversion. MMT patients had higher activation in cerebellum and right lingual gyrus, implicating this enhanced activation as a medication effects (Tabatabaei-Jafari et al 2014). In a study by Langleben et al (2008), heroin dependent patients on MMT were scanned before and after their daily methadone dose.…”

Congress 60: An Addiction Recovery Community within the Islamic Republic of Iran

“…Studies have found that ABT and MAT reduce drugcraving and drug-seeking behaviors but may affect different neural mechanisms (Tabatabaei-Jafari et al, 2014). This raises the question of whether combining or sequencing potent ingredients of ABT and MAT may produce outcomes superior to either used in isolation.…”

“…Our goal is to create awareness in lawmakers and government officials about the actual nature of drug addiction so that they can make the right decisions that affect the addicts directly. (Hossein Dezhakam, quoted in White, 2011, p. 14) Research Congress 60 has collaborated with research scientists on a variety of recent addiction-related studies (Dahmardehei & Rafaiee, 2012;Maarefvand, Ghiasvand, & Ekhtiari, 2013;Mirlashari, Demirkol, Salsali, Rafiey, & Jahahbani, 2012;Namdarpour & Iravani, 2013;Tabatabaei-Jafari et al, 2014;Tavakoli et al, 2012;Zarrindast et al, 2010), but no comprehensive study has yet been conducted of the effectiveness of the methods used by Congress 60. As a result, Congress 60 is currently collaborating with research scientists in Iran on the evaluation of long-term outcomes of the Congress 60 approach to addiction treatment and is involved in a collaborative study with this author to evaluate the adaptation of the DST method for the treatment of nicotine addiction among Congress 60 members.…”

Lower Gray Matter Density in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Putamen Can Be Traceable in Chronic Heroin Dependents after over 3 Months of Successful Abstinence

“…Neuroimaging studies on heroin abusers have frequently addressed functional differences (9,17,21,23). Although there are few studies on brain structure differences of heroin abusers, their results are controversial.…”