The Effect of Regular Naltrexone Dosing on Disordered Gamblers

Gambling Clinical Trial

Official title: The Effect of Regular Naltrexone Dosing on Disordered Gamblers: An Examination of Neural Activation, Gambling Urges, and Gambling Behaviour

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

This study examines the effect of regular naltrexone dosing on disordered gamblers. Gamblers will also be scanned pre- and post-treatment where we will investigate the functional changes to tasks designed to engage brain region associated with gambling and addiction. These changes will be correlated with treatment outcomes and urge scores.

Clinical Trial Description

This study will investigate the effects of regular dosing of naltrexone for the treatment of disordered gambling. It will also examine the changes of neurological functioning to tasks associated with addiction. Converging evidence suggests that disordered gambling shares similarities with substance dependence and disordered alcohol use. Naltrexone is a medication that is used to reduce the cravings and euphoria from opioids and alcohol use and some studies have shown that it also has efficacy as a treatment for problematic gambling. Pilot data suggest the prefrontal cortex is activated for a healthy subject during a delay-discounting task, possibly indicating some consideration of the delayed value of a hypothetical money amount. If discounting rates can be correlated with treatment outcomes and neurological activation, these tasks may provide a new predictive tool for treatment outcome. However, no previous study has examined the neurological changes from pharmacological treatments of gambling. This study will provide data on the differences between pre- and post-treatment of regular naltrexone dosing for disordered gamblers ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Gambling

• NCT number: NCT02537197
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: University of Calgary
• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 1
• Start date: April 2016
• Completion date: May 26, 2022