In our previous study we designed a visual cue based craving task which reliably induces craving. We investigated that there are two distinguishable groups of heroin addicts: responder and non responder to the cues. In this study we used fMRI to examine this subjective difference.

30 right handed male heroin IV abusers with IV injection for at least 6 months compared to 15 normal right handed males. DSMIV and Addiction Severity Index (ASI) were administrated. Cue Induce Craving Task was presented during and after imaging. BOLD signal analysis performed by FSL™.

A number of cases demonstrate high cortical activation in: cingulate gyrus, rectus gyrus, medial frontal gyrus,nucleus accombans and cingulum (17/30).No significant activation observed in the control group and in 13 cases. There was shown that these 13 cases had less hunger for drug consumption during the analog presentation. No significant ASI or DSMIV differences were found. They were the same as control group in their FSL feat analysis.

We recognized two separated groups: Heavily cue responder and non responder. They are different in subjective response to the drug cues and in their brain activation (the regions that are responsible for reward and punishment). We also found that the FMRI findings are highly correlated to the subjective responses. This means that the Visual Craving Task is a reliable devise for estimating the degree of craving in the heroin addicts.