SYMPOSIA

Abstracts of Oral Presentations
patients treated with methadone.
Methods: A total of 36 male opioid-dependent patients, aged between 18 and 50 years who met the DSM-IV criteria for opioid dependence,
were randomly assigned into two groups of 18 members, to receive either ginseng (two 250 mg capsules daily) or placebo for the first 15
days of detoxification. All patients were treated with a Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) protocol. Opioid withdrawal syndrome
severity was measured by the Clinical Opioid Withdrawal Scale (COWS) on days 0, 1, 7, 10, and 15. In addition, the required daily methadone
dosage was recorded and compared between the groups. This trial was registered in the Iranian Registry of Clinical trials (IRCT) under ID of
IRCT201009063106N4 and was approved by the Ethics Committee of Azad University (approval number: 4115).
Results: Patients in the two treatment groups did not differ significantly in socio-demographic and clinical variables at the baseline.
As expected, a statistically significant decrease in the COWS total score and symptoms was observed from the first day to the end of the
study in both treatment groups.
As shown in figure 1, the required daily methadone dosage was lower in the ginseng group from day 5 to the end of the study (P