Neural Dysfunction during Decision-Making as a Predictor of Cocaine Relapse
type: CreativeWork
description: Cocaine dependence is a costly disorder characterized by recurrent relapse events. The current investigation used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a decision-making task to predict relapse to drug use in a cocaine-dependent sample. Forty-five treatment-seeking cocaine-dependent subjects, two to four weeks abstinent, and 23 healthy control subjects underwent 3T fMRI. The Response Reversal Task was administered in the scanner to elicit decision-making processes. Individuals were followed for up to six months post-discharge from inpatient substance use treatment to determine time-to-relapse. Seventy-eight percent of the patient sample relapsed an average of 35 days after treatment; ten individuals did not relapse during the follow-up period. No group differences were found between healthy control and cocaine-addicted groups in activation patterns or behavioral measures of decision-making performance. Mean percent BOLD signal change in the patient group was used to identify regions of interest (ROIs) for discriminant analyses to classify patients by short- and long-term relapse. The fMRI activation patterns in the precuneus, bilateral orbitofrontal cortex, left insula, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, paracingulate, left hippocampus, and bilateral amygdala correctly classified 71% of patients by short-term and long-term relapse. This investigation suggests that neuroimaging may be a valid predictor of cocaine relapse, which could allow for better individual tailoring of treatment options for improving long-term abstinence.
abstract: Cocaine dependence is a costly disorder characterized by recurrent relapse events. The current investigation used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a decision-making task to predict relapse to drug use in a cocaine-dependent sample. Forty-five treatment-seeking cocaine-dependent subjects, two to four weeks abstinent, and 23 healthy control subjects underwent 3T fMRI. The Response Reversal Task was administered in the scanner to elicit decision-making processes. Individuals were followed for up to six months post-discharge from inpatient substance use treatment to determine time-to-relapse. Seventy-eight percent of the patient sample relapsed an average of 35 days after treatment; ten individuals did not relapse during the follow-up period. No group differences were found between healthy control and cocaine-addicted groups in activation patterns or behavioral measures of decision-making performance. Mean percent BOLD signal change in the patient group was used to identify regions of interest (ROIs) for discriminant analyses to classify patients by short- and long-term relapse. The fMRI activation patterns in the precuneus, bilateral orbitofrontal cortex, left insula, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, paracingulate, left hippocampus, and bilateral amygdala correctly classified 71% of patients by short-term and long-term relapse. This investigation suggests that neuroimaging may be a valid predictor of cocaine relapse, which could allow for better individual tailoring of treatment options for improving long-term abstinence.
author: Braud, Jacquelyn Ashley
language: en
keywords: Cocaine-Related Disorders, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Drug Users
date published: 2013-01-17T16:03:31Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:52:15Z
provider: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/2152.5/1230