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Volume 8, Issue 5 (Suppl) J Addict Res Ther, an open access journal
ISSN: 2155-6105 Addiction Congress 2017
August 29-31, 2017
Page 51
Notes:
conferenceseries.com
6th World Congress on
August 29-31, 2017 | Prague, Czech Republic
Addiction Disorder & Addiction Therapy
Wai Kwong TANG, J Addict Res Ther 2017, 8:5 (Suppl)
DOI: 10.4172/2155-6105-C1-032
Evidence of brain damage in chronic ketamine users – A brain imaging study
Background and objectives: The objectives of this study were to ascertain the pattern of grey and white matter volume
reduction and regional metabolic and activation abnormalities in chronic ketamine users, and to evaluate the correlations
between these brain abnormalities and cognitive impairments in chronic ketamine users in Hong Kong.
Design: Cross-sectional observational study.
Setting: Counselling Centre for Psychotropic Substance Abusers in Hong Kong.
Participants: One hundred and thirty-six participants were recruited from October 2011 to April 2014. The participants were
divided into two groups: ketamine users (79) and healthy controls (57).
Main outcome measures: All of the participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging of the brain.
Results: Many of the participants in the ketamine group also frequently used cocaine and cannabis. Among the ketamine
users, 12.6% were diagnosed with a mood disorder and 8.9% with an anxiety disorder. The participants in the ketamine group
had worse performance than the healthy controls on tests of general intelligence, verbal, visual and working memory and
executive functioning. In terms of grey matter volumes, the right orbitofrontal cortex, right medial prefrontal cortex, left and
right hippocampus and possibly the left orbitofrontal cortex were smaller in the ketamine group. A functional connectivity
examination of the default mode network revealed significantly decreased connectivity in the medial part of the bilateral
superior frontal gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, bilateral gyrus rectus, left superior temporal pole, left inferior temporal gyrus,
bilateral angular gyrus and bilateral cerebellum crus II in the ketamine group.
Conclusions: Longitudinal or prospective studies would help to strengthen the evidence on the reversibility of the structural
and functional brain damage caused by ketamine.
Biography
Wai Kwong TANG was appointed as professor in the Department of Psychiatry, the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2011. His main research areas are Addictions and
Neuropsychiatry in Stroke. He has published over 100 papers in renowned journals, and has also contributed to the peer review of 40 journals. He has secured over 20
major competitive research grants. He has served the editorial boards of five scientific journals. He was also a recipient of the Young Researcher Award in 2007, awarded
by the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Wai Kwong TANG
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong