Assessment of brain structural changes in patients with opium dependence disorder on Methadone Maintenance Treatment, Opium Tincture Treatment and healthy individuals

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Associate professor of psychiatry, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

2 Assistant professor of psychiatry, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

3 Radiologist, Head of Radiology Department of Razavi Hospital, Mashhad, Iran

4 Assistant professor of medical physics, Medical Physics Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

5 Associate professor of medical physics, Nuclear Medicine Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

6 Assistant professor of radiology, Imam Reza Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

7 Radiologist, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Methadone maintenance and opium tincture treatments has been recommended as harm reduction strategies for opioid-dependent patients in Iran. However, the effects of long-term administration of methadone and opium tincture on the brain are not fully understood. In this study we investigated the effects of methadone and opium tincture maintenance treatments on the brain volumes of former opium addicts by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) volumetry of brain compared to healthy participants. 
Materials and Methods: The present case-control study was performed in Mashhad, Iran in 2015-2017. Via convenient sampling method, 36 participants were selected and allocated in 3 equal groups (methadone maintenance treatment, opium tincture treatment, and normal control). The volumes of gray matter, frontal lobe, temporal lobe, cingulate gyrus, limbic system, amygdala, and hippocampus of all participants were assessed using MRI volumetry. Data analyzed by ANOVA, using SPSS software (ver. 16). 
Results: There were no significant statistical differences between mean volumes of any assessed region of the brain among three groups (P>0.05). 
Conclusion: Methadone maintenance treatment and opium tincture treatment have no hazardous effects on the volumes of gray matter, frontal lobe, temporal lobe, cingulate gyrus, limbic system, amygdala, and hippocampus of former opium addicts.

Keywords

References

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Journal of Fundamentals of Mental Health
Volume 22, Issue 2
March and April 2020
Pages 77-82

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