Development of safe and efficient methods of opioid withdrawal syndrome treatment is a problem of addiction psychiatry. The search for new methods is influenced by the fact that the withdrawl state is complicated by severe psycho-vegetative dysfunction, pain, consistent insomnia, absence of response to psychopharmacological treatment and frequent co-morbidity with HBV/HCV.

The objective of this research was to study the effects of the inert gas - Xenon - on the psychopathological and psycho-vegetative symptoms of withdrawal and post-withdrawal states among patients with opioid dependency.

The aims of the research were as follows: to develop a new medical technology in the treatment of opioid withdrawal and post-withdrawal states with an account of the severity of their course, to develop clinical-laboratory differential predictors of efficacy of the treatment. From 2001 till 2006 a complex examination and treatment of 208 patients who suffered from opioid withdrawal state were conducted. The standard treatment was complemented with the use of Xenon in the intensive care wards of the Clinic of Drug Addiction №17, Moscow. An assessment of the therapeutic efficacy was based on the dynamic use of contemporary clinical, laboratory, psychological and statistical methods.

Results showed that supplementing the standard treatment with the use of Xenon led to the quickest reduction of the diver symptoms of opioid withdrawal and post-withdrawal states. It was proved that Xenon, as an antagonist of NMDA-receptors, provides a strong painkilling and neuroprotective effect and ultimatly stabilizes dysfunction of the vegetative system due to the suppression of catecholamine producing.