SynthesisDrug and alcohol dependence2022
Structural and functional brain recovery in individuals with substance use disorders during abstinence: A review of longitudinal neuroimaging studies.
Synthesis in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
38 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 63 citations in OpenAlex.
- What can case-control comparisons of neural drug cue reactivity tell us about addiction? A neuroimaging meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Examining alcohol use disorder recovery definitions and demographic reporting in studies of structural brain recovery: an updated systematic review and extension.Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) · 2026Pooled it
- Neuroimaging of the effects of drug exposure or self-administration in rodents: A systematic review.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Cerebellar hypermetabolism disrupts fronto-cerebellar resting-state functional connectivity and associated executive compensation.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Effects of Tai Chi on attentional bias in men with methamphetamine use disorder.NPJ science of learning · 2026Article
- Brain Structure and Substance Use: Disentangling Risk, Exposure, and Drug-Specific Effects.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Neuropsychological impairment detected by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment monitors recovery and predicts treatment dropout in substance use disorders.BJPsych open · 2026Article
- Early abstinence in severe alcohol use disorder: MCP-1 decline, choroid plexus shrinkage, and region-specific grey-matter volume changes.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Changes in transverse dimensions in growing patients treated with AMCOP® and electromyographic assessment with Teethan®.Frontiers in dental medicine · 2026Article
- The Impaired Response Inhibition and Salience Attribution Model of Drug Addiction: Recent Neuroimaging Evidence and Future Directions.Annual review of psychology · 2026Review
- Grey Matter Volume in Substance Use: A Preregistered, Dimensional Approach to Disentangle Substance Use and Disorder Severity.Addiction biology · 2025Article
- Shared orbitofrontal dynamics to a drug-themed movie track craving and recovery in heroin addiction.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2025Article
- The impact of the CACNB2 Rs11013860 polymorphism on grey matter volume and brain function in bipolar disorder.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Remission from addiction: erasing the wrong circuits or making new ones?Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2025Review
- Neurocognitive outcomes in adolescents with and without four weeks of cannabis abstinence: a randomized clinical trial using contingency management.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of a virtual reality-based cognitive training program on memory, executive functioning, and processing speed in individuals with substance use disorders: a quasi-experimental study.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2025Article
- Neuroanatomical Variability and Substance Use Initiation in Late Childhood and Early Adolescence.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- Frontal White Matter Changes and Craving Recovery in Inpatients With Heroin Use Disorder.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- Neuropsychological Abnormalities Associated with Alcohol Dependence During Long-Term Rehabilitation Treatment of German Inpatients.Brain sciences · 2024Article
- Re-evaluating our focus in addiction: emotional dysregulation is a critical driver of relapse to drug use.Translational psychiatry · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundNeuroimaging studies reveal structural and functional including neurochemical brain abnormalities in individuals with substance use disorders compared to healthy controls. However, whether and to what extent such dysfunction is reversible with abstinence remains unclear, and a review of studies with longitudinal within-subject designs is lacking. We performed a systematic review of longitudinal neuroimaging studies to explore putative brain changes associated with abstinence in treatment-seeking individuals with substance use disorders.
methodsFollowing PRISMA guidelines, we examined articles published up to May 2021 that employed a neuroimaging technique and assessed neurobiological recovery in treatment-seeking participants at a minimum of two time-points separated by a period of abstinence (longer than 24 h apart) or significant reduction in drug use.
resultsForty-five studies met inclusion criteria. Encouragingly, in this limited but growing literature, the majority of studies demonstrated at least partial neurobiological recovery with abstinence. Structural recovery appeared to occur predominantly in frontal cortical regions, the insula, hippocampus, and cerebellum. Functional and neurochemical recovery was similarly observed in prefrontal cortical regions but also in subcortical structures. The onset of structural recovery appears to precede neurochemical recovery, which begins soon after cessation (particularly for alcohol); functional recovery may require longer periods of abstinence.
conclusionsThe literature is still growing and more studies are warranted to better understand abstinence-mediated neural recovery in individuals with substance use disorders. Elucidating the temporal dynamics between neuronal recovery and abstinence will enable evidence-based planning for more effective and targeted treatment of substance use disorders, potentially pre-empting relapse.
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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.