title: Stroke modifies drug consumption in opium addicts: role of the insula.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Addiction imposes a large medical, social and economic burden on societies. Currently, there is no effective treatment for addiction. Our struggle to decipher the different mechanisms involved in addiction requires a proper understanding of the brain regions which promote this devastating behavior. Previous studies have shown a pivotal role for insula in cigarette smoking. In this study we investigated the change in opium consumption after CVA.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study took place in three referral academic hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Patients who suffered a CVA and were addicted to opium were recruited during their hospitalization or visit to the neurology clinic in this study. Age, sex and the route and mean amount of opium use of each patient before CVA and 1, 3 and 6 months post-CVA was asked using a questionnaire. The patients were divided into three groups based on the location of brain ischemia (insula, basal ganglia and non-insula non-basal ganglia group).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy five percent of the patients with ischemia of the insula changed the route or amount of opium use after CVA and 37.5% of them stopped opium use after CVA. These values were significantly higher than patients with non-insula nonbasal ganglia ischemia (p values 0.005 and 0.03 for change in route or amount and stopping opium use, respectively). This was not true in patients with ischemia of the basal ganglia. Younger patients were more likely to change the route or amount of opium use and stop opium use after CVA (p values 0.002 and 0.026, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of the present study indicate a possible role for the insula in opium addiction, especially in younger individuals.
authors.affiliation: Students' Scientific Research Center, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Yashar
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yousefzadeh-Fard
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Hadi
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Gharedaghi
authors.affiliation: Students' Scientific Research Center, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Esmaeili
authors.affiliation: Students' Scientific Research Center, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Elham
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pourbakhtyaran
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Salehi
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Sadaghiani
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Shariati hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Askar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghorbani
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Sina hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad-Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sahraian
keywords: Addiction; Opium; Stroke