Methamphetamine (MA) use has been an important health problem in Iran in recent decade. Previous studies have suggested brain structural abnormalities in MA users. Increasing knowledge about the MA induced structurally and possible structural brain changes is important for better management of this disorder. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possible structural brain structural changes in MA dependent patients. This was a case-control study, which conducted in Farabi mental hospital in the west of Iran. Voxel-based-mor phometry (VBM) as a wholebrain technique for characterizing regional cerebral volume and tissue concentration differences in structural MRI was administered. We used VBM to assess regional brain differences in 25 MA dependent patients and 20 age, sex matched healthy controls. In MA dependent patients hippocam, parahippocamp, left frontal lobe, right frontal lobe, left temporal lobe, and right temporal lobe volumes were significantly lower than healthy control subjects (P< 0.05). Also caudate and amygdala volume in MA dependent patients were smaller than healthy subjects (P< 0.05). The brain volume reduction of MA dependent patients compared to control subjects may explain the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in these patients, and could help to provide therapeutic strategies for drug-induced brain injury

Methamphetamine, Brain, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Voxel-Based-Morphometry (VBM)