title: [Heroin].
abstract: Heroin (or diacetylmorphine), a depressant nervous central system, is a semi-synthetic opiate. Its main adverse effect, respiratory depression, can lead to death, especially after an intravenous injection. By loss of tolerance, an overdose can be lethal following heroin use after a period of abstinence (voluntary or not). Mortality rate among heroin users is between 1 and 3%. Addiction, following a regular and continuous use, occurs in less than a quarter of persons who ever tried heroine. Heroin addicts often present with different problems (for instance, a criminal behaviour), without any obvious link with addiction. For a fraction of the addicts, addiction becomes a chronic relapsing disease, requiring a long term maintenance substitution therapy. However, relapses and sometimes continuous heroin use are frequent, For treatment resistant and severe heroin addicts, heroin-assisted treatment can be a solution. Despite the numerous available therapies, heroin is considered to be the drug with the most negative effects on the user.
authors.affiliation: Service de Psychiatrie, Université de Liege, Belgique.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Demaret
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lemaître
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ansseau
mesh_terms: D015658:HIV Infections / Q000635:transmission; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000635:transmission; D003932:Heroin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009294:Narcotics / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D016485:Needle Sharing / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D009294:Narcotics; D003932:Heroin