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Almost two thirds of people treated for alcohol use disorders resume problem drinking within 6 months, but predicting who will relapse has not been possible. Investigators used deformation-based morphometry, which compares brain regions without a priori assumptions about specific regions of interest, to determine whether brain differences before treatment might explain vulnerability to relapse.
Participants were 75 newly abstinent, alcohol-dependent patients who entered treatment for alcohol dependence or abuse and 40 light-drinking controls (mean ages, 50 and 47, respectively; past-year drinks/month average, 338–396 and 14). Patients had smaller volumes than controls in right temporal and frontal regions.
After a mean of 7.8 months of treatm…