Continuous naloxone administration suppresses opiate withdrawal symptoms in human opiate addicts during detoxification treatment.
In a small clinical trial, a new therapeutic approach was studied, whether naloxone, in high dosage over a prolonged period of time, will attenuate withdrawal symptoms in acute opiate detoxification. Six opiate addicts, satisfying DSM III-R criteria of opiate dependence, were given 10 mg naloxone under short barbiturate anaesthesia, followed by repeated doses of 0.4 mg/h naloxone for at least 72 h. Acute onset of withdrawal symptoms brought about a high dose of naloxone could be suppressed by the short barbiturate anaesthetic; neither continuous supply nor cessation of the naloxone regimen after 96 h caused any severe withdrawal symptoms. Morphine and naloxone measurements in blood at the start of naloxone therapy enabled pharmacokinetic explanations for this paradoxical action of naloxone to be excluded.
Loimer
N
N
Psychiatric University Hospital of Vienna, Austria.
Schmid
R W
RW
Presslich
O
O
Lenz
K
K
D000328:Adult; D000758:Anesthesia; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006801:Humans; D008723:Methohexital / Q000008:administration & dosage; D009270:Naloxone / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011957:Receptors, Opioid / Q000187:drug effects; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology
D011957:Receptors, Opioid; D009270:Naloxone; D008723:Methohexital