Comparing treatments of alcoholism on craving and biochemical measures of alcohol consumptionst.

Felice Nava, Stefania Premi, Ezio Manzato, Alfio Lucchini

Journal: Journal of psychoactive drugs 2007;38(3):211-7

PMID: 17165363

Abstract

An open randomized study was conducted to compare different treatments of alcoholism on ethanol intake, craving, and on biochemical measures of alcohol consumptions. Eighty-six alcoholics were abstinent for a mean of two weeks prior to random assignment to g-hydroxybutyrate (GHB, 50 mg/kg of body weight t.i.d), naltrexone (NTX, 50 mg/day) or disulfiram (DSF, 200 mg/ day) treatment for 12 months. All treatments were equally effective in reducing alcohol intake and in maintaining abstinence. In all patients, the treatments were able to reduce both craving and the altered biological markers of alcohol abuse. The maximum effects were observed in GHB-treated patients. The results of the present study suggest that GHB might act both as anticraving and cellular protector agent.

Address: Department of Addiction Medicine, Drug Abuse Unit (Ser.T.), Hospital of Castelfranco Veneto, Via Ospedale, 18, 31033 Castelfranco Veneto-Treviso, Italy. [email protected]

DOI: 10.1080/02791072.2006.10399846

Link outs

Free resources

Medical:

https://medlineplus.gov/alcohol.html

Subscription / membership required

Full Text Sources:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/02791072.2...

MeSH Terms: Adult, Alcohol Deterrents, Alcohol Drinking, Alcoholism, Biomarkers, Disulfiram, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Naltrexone, Narcotic Antagonists, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Sodium Oxybate, Temperance