Trial reportEuropean addiction research2021
Neurofeedback Training versus Treatment-as-Usual for Alcohol Dependence: Results of an Early-Phase Randomized Controlled Trial and Neuroimaging Correlates.
Trial report in European addiction research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial of Real-Time fMRI Neurofeedback for Reading Rehabilitation in Aphasia.Stroke · 2026Trial
- Computationally Informed Interventions for Targeting Compulsive Behaviors.Biological psychiatry · 2023Review
- Targeted neurorehabilitation strategies in post-stroke aphasia.Restorative neurology and neuroscience · 2023Review
- Interoception and alcohol: Mechanisms, networks, and implications.Neuropharmacology · 2021Review
- A Randomized Controlled Trial of Attentional Control Training for Treating Alcohol Use Disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issuedErratum.2021
Authors and funding
14 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionAlcohol dependence is one of the most common substance use disorders, and novel treatment options are urgently needed. Neurofeedback training (NFT) based on real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtf-MRI) has emerged as an attractive candidate for add-on treatments in psychiatry, but its use in alcohol dependence has not been formally investigated in a clinical trial. We investigated the use of rtfMRI-based NFT to prevent relapse in alcohol dependence.
methodsFifty-two alcohol-dependent patients from the UK who had completed a detoxification program were randomly assigned to a treatment group (receiving rtfMRI NFT in addition to standard care) or the control group (receiving standard care only). At baseline, alcohol consumption was assessed as the primary outcome measure and a variety of psychological, behavioral, and neural parameters as secondary outcome measures to determine feasibility and secondary training effects. Participants in the treatment group underwent 6 NFT sessions over 4 months and were trained to downregulate their brain activation in the salience network in the presence of alcohol stimuli and to upregulate frontal activation in response to pictures related to positive goals. Four, 8, and 12 months after baseline assessment, both groups were followed up with a battery of clinical and psychometric tests.
resultsPrimary outcome measures showed very low relapse rates for both groups. Analysis of neural secondary outcome measures indicated that the majority of patients modulated the salience system in the desired directions, by decreasing activity in response to alcohol stimuli and increasing activation in response to positive goals. The intervention had a good safety and acceptability profile.
conclusionWe demonstrated that rtfMRI-neurofeedback targeting hyperactivity of the salience network in response to alcohol cues is feasible in currently abstinent patients with alcohol dependence.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.