Evaluation of short-term psychological functions in opiate addicts after ablating the nucleus accumbens via stereotactic surgery.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the short-term psychological function of opiate addicts who have undergone ablative stereotactic surgery targeting the nucleus accumbens (NAc) for alleviating opiate drug psychological dependence.


METHODS
The psychological functional status of 14 opiate addicts was assessed by standardized psychological tests both before and approximately 3 months after stereotactic surgery. Standardized tests included the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised Chinese (WAIS-RC), the Clinical Memory Scale of Chinese (CMS), the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90). The evaluation of psychological dimensions included intelligence, memory, personality characteristics and mental health symptoms.


RESULTS
Compared with the preoperative state, there was no statistically significant difference in full-scale intelligence quotient (IQ) postoperatively, but without Bonferroni correction a significant decline by 13.55% (p < 0.05) was observed in the Digit Symbol-Substitution subtest of WAIS-RC. The memory quotient (MQ) of CMS demonstrated a significant decline of 10.65% (p < 0.05) postoperatively. Concerning the participants' personality characteristics, a significant postoperative increase (p < 0.05) was detected in the Psychoticism (P) trait of EPQ. The mental healthy severity indexes of SCL-90 were decreased postoperatively. After Bonferroni correction, however, there was no statistical difference between pre- and postoperative results on all assessments.


CONCLUSIONS
Although the patients' intelligence measures were not changed significantly, their short-term memory and attention appeared to decline postoperatively. In addition, there was a trend towards change in some personality characteristics postoperatively. The postoperative mental health levels of the patients increased, indicating a trend towards improvement. Stereotactic ablation of the NAc in opiate addicts may be associated with short-term negative psychological functions. Advisement regarding the safety of the new surgical modality and recommendations for further investigation are necessary.
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Aerospace Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shannxi, China.
Fei
F
He
Hao
H
Guan
Zhijing
Z
Zhao
Xinfang
X
Miao
Qin
Q
Zhou
Lihong
L
Li
Dongmei
D
Huang
Anheng
A
Liu
Danmin
D
Miao
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D008875:Middle Aged; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery*; D010551:Personality; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000523:psychology*; D011581:Psychological Tests; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques / Q000009:adverse effects*; D055815:Young Adult