At least two-thirds of AUD individuals return to drinking within months of initiating recovery (e.g., Sinha, 2007). Using in vivo MR imaging (MRI) results, the neural correlates of relapse risk have begun to be explored. The most substantial evidence thus far supports the integrity of frontal regions in the maintenance of sobriety (e.g., Sorg et al., 2012). The volume of the orbitofrontal cortex was smaller in AUD individuals that relapse than in those that remained sober at 3-month (Beck et al., 2012) and 12-month (Durazzo et al., 2011) follow-up time points (also see, Cardenas et al., 2011), and smaller medial-frontal gray matter volumes predicted relapse to heavy drinking at 3-month follow-up (Rando et al., 2011).
