Assessment of the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on modulation of heroin crack craving

The craving stage of the addiction cycle has been hypothesized to be a key element of relapse. The aim of the present study was to test the efficacy of stimulation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex using transcranial direct current on heroin crack craving.
The present study was a semi- experimental, double-blinded, cross sectional study with pre and post-test and control group. The participants of the study were all right handed male heroin crack dependent smokers in MMT program who were referred to 10 drug treatment and rehabilitation centers in Tehran in first half of the year 2014 (n=46). According to the inclusion/exclusion criteria and based on available sampling method 40 people who had the highest marks after cue-induced craving test were selected and randomly divided into experimental and control groups with 20 subjects in each (n1=n2=20). Right anodal and right cathodal treatment sessions were employed randomly on dorolasteral prefrontal cortex of the participants in the experimental group (n=20) for 20 minutes and 72 hours interval in 2 sessions, and sham stimulation was employed on the same area for 20 minutes in 1 session in the control group (n=20).
Results of the study indicate that right anodal/left cathodal stimulation of DLPFC significantly decreased heroin crack craving compared to sham stimulation (P0.05).
Applying transcranial direct current stimulation as a complementary treatment is recommended for decreasing drug craving.