Suffering a debilitating cerberovascular accident isn’t exactly what anyone would call a typical smoking cessation aid, two new studies have found that cigarette users who suffered a stroke in the insular cortex were more likely to kick the habit than those with strokes elsewhere.
In addition, the researchers behind these new papers found that smokers who experienced a stroke in this region of the brain also typically experienced fewer and less severe withdrawal symptoms than men and women with strokes that affected other parts of the brain.
The results, lead author Dr. Amir Abdolahi, a clinical research scientist at Philips Research North America who conducted the research while an epidemiology doctoral student at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, explained in a statement, “indicate that the insular cortex may play a central role in addiction.”
“When this part of the brain is damaged during stroke, smokers are about twice as likely to stop smoking and their craving and withdrawal symptoms are far less severe,” he added. The two new studies have been published in the journals Addiction and Addictive Behaviors.
Insular cortex stroke patients twice as likely to kick the habit
Most of the prescription medications currently used to treat addiction to tobacco target the brain’s “reward” pathways, the study authors explained. They interfere with the release and binding of dopamine in response to nicotine, and while these drugs are often successful in the short-term, the majority of smokers wind up relapsing within six months.
Building upon recent research that suggested that the insular cortex may also play a key role in the cognitive and emotional processes which lead to drug or tobacco use, Dr. Abdolahi and his colleagues looked at smokers who had their insular cortex damaged during a stroke to see if they were more likely to quit smoking.
They looked at 156 stroke patients admitted to three Rochester, New York area hospitals, all of whom were identified as active smokers, and looked at two different sets of data: whether or not the patients resumed smoking after their strokes, and how severe their cigarette cravings were when they were in the hospital. The stoke locations were determined by CT scans or MRIs.
By measuring factors such as anger, anxiety and cravings during their hospitalization period, during which time the patients were forced to quit smoking, they found that patients who had a stroke in the insular cortex had fewer and far less severe withdrawal symptoms than those with strokes in other parts of the brain. They also found that nearly twice as many insular cortex stroke patients kicked the habit than those with strokes elsewhere (70 percent vs. 37 percent).
Their findings mean that this part of the brain could be a potential target for treatments for smoking or other forms of addiction, though Dr. Abdolahi cautioned that “much more research is needed in order for us to more fully understand the underlying mechanism and specific role of the insular cortex.” However, he added, “it is clear that something is going on in this part of the brain that is influencing addiction.”
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