It is not news to the world that alcohol dependence is a
major health problem in the United States. It is considered one of the leading
causes for the years of life lived with significantly reduced health worldwide.
This disease is typically chronic and people who suffer from its effects tend
to relapse even after successful cessation therapy. Risk factors for relapse
are not fully understood.
Some studies suggest that regional brain volumes are
correlated with therapeutic victory in psychiatric disorders. The aim of this
specific study was to look at potential predictive factors of alcohol
abstinence under acamprostate therapy, such as the hippocampal volume.
This study examined the relationship between relapse risk of
abstinence and hippocampal volume as well as the moderating role of carious psychological
factors. This study examined 34 individuals who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria
for alcohol dependence using the guidelines given by the ICD-10 and DSM-IV.
Sixteen healthy controls (9 females and 7 males) were part of that 34. This study
will allow the anticraving substance acamprostate t
o be administered for 3 full
months. Before the medication began the patients underwent a psychometric evaluation
and a measure of their hippocampus. At 2, 4, 8, 12 weeks after each treatment the
person’s abstinence was evaluated by means of a phone call. After 12 weeks all
patients were switched to a long-term open label study with acamprostate. A
person’s stress level, gender, depressivity, and treatment with this specific
anticraving substance acamprostate did not show a significant connection with
relapse probability.
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| Picture is of total hippocampal volumes in a sagittal section of a cranial nuclear magnetic resonance. ABSTRACT
Claus M. Gross, Kai Spiegellhalder, Josef
Mercak, Bernd Feige, Jens M. Landosch. (2014, September). Predictability of Alcohol
Relapse By Hippocampal Volumetry and Psychometric Variables.
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