Brain Imaging in Substance Abuse: Research, Clinical, and Forensic Applications

Highly experienced clinical researchers from diverse fields describe in detail the use of electroencephalography, emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and neuropsychology to study the neural effects of substance abuse. They extensively review research findings these powerful methods have yielded. The authors detail the effects of drugs, including alcohol, benzodiazepines, marijuana, opiates, cocaine, amphetamines, hallucinogens, and solvents on brain electrical activity, metabolism, hemodynamics, receptor and neurotransmitter levels, neurochemistry, and structure. The striking findings they report emerge from more than 1350 articles in some 320 journals, and are organized by method, abused substance, and drug use state. Comprehensive and readily accessible, Brain Imaging in Substance Abuse: Research, Clinical, and Forensic Applications offers psychiatrists, radiologists, neurologists, pharmacologists, physiologists, substance abuse specialists, and legal professionals a broad yet thoroughly integrated understanding of the methods and results obtained with clinical neuroimaging studies of substance abuse today.