Why the study?
Does long-term opioid dependence alter regional cerebral blood flow compared to healthy controls?
Does long-term opioid dependence alter regional cerebral blood flow compared to healthy controls?
Long-term opioid dependence is associated with decreased regional cerebral blood flow and altered hemispheric symmetry, which may reflect changes in emotional status.
May link opioid dependence to prefrontal changes without altering practice; leaves open causal ties to emotional outcomes pending longitudinal data.
Changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) due to long-term abuse of opioids such as heroin or morphine are not yet fully understood in humans. The goal of the present study was to investigate rCBF alterations in a large sample of long-term opioid addicts in comparison to healthy controls. We investigated 21 opioid-dependent subjects, who were currently abusing heroin or were enrolled in a methadone or morphine maintenance program, and 36 healthy controls with (99m)Tc-HMPAO single photon emission computed tomography. We found a decrease in rCBF in most regions of interest in patients in comparison to controls. Long-term opioid dependence seems to decrease prefrontal CBF in particular. A right-greater-than-left CBF asymmetry in healthy subjects was reversed in patients. This change in CBF symmetry could reflect the different emotional status of opioid-dependent patients. Our findings are in line with neuropsychological investigations indicating a correlation of mood states with lateralization of hemispheric activation patterns.
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Pezawas et al. (2002) studied this question.
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