A study on regional cerebral blood flow in heroin-addicted patients

Objective: To investigate the changes of regional cerebral blood flow(rCBF) of heroin addicts and to improve the knowledge of this disease. Methods: One hundred and forty-one heroin-dependent individuals were scanned with single photon emission computed tomography(SPECT) and their rCBF were obtained 30min later after injection of 99mTc-ethylene cysteinate dimer(ECD) 740MBq. Results: A decrease in rCBF was found in 136 patients(96.5%). Forty-six(33%) patients had one low rCBF focus. Sixty-eight(48%) patients had two low rCBF foci. Seventeen(12%) patients had three low rCBF foci. Three(2.1%) patients had four low rCBF foci. Two(1.4%) patients had five low rCBF foci. The decrease of rCBF was distributed mainly in parietal lobe- temporal lobe- frontal lobe. Conclusions: Low rCBF of parietal lobe- temporal lobe- frontal lobe may be detected in heroin-addicted patients. These results suggest that rCBF is of value in the diagnosis of heroin addicts with low rCBF of parietal lobe- temporal lobe- frontal lobe and thalamencephalon.