title: Estimation of the Time Interval between the Administration of Heroin and the Sampling of Blood in Chronic Inhalers.
abstract: To develop a model for estimating the time delay between last heroin consumption and blood sampling in chronic drug users. Eleven patients, all heroin inhalers undergoing detoxification, were included in the study. Several plasma samples were collected during the detoxification procedure and analyzed for the heroin metabolites 6-acetylmorphine (6AM), morphine (MOR), morphine-6-glucuronide (M6G) and morphine-3-glucuronide (M3G), according to a UHPLC/MSMS method. The general linear mixed model was applied to time-related concentrations and a pragmatic four-step delay estimation approach was proposed based on the simultaneous presence of metabolites in plasma. Validation of the model was carried out using the jackknife technique on the 11 patients, and on a group of 7 test patients. Quadratic equations were derived for all metabolites except 6AM. The interval delay estimation was 2-4 days when only M3G present in plasma, 1-2 days when M6G and M3G were both present, 0-1 day when MOR, M6G and M3G were present and <2 h for all metabolites present. The 'jackknife' correlation between declared and actual estimated delays was 0.90. The overall precision of the delay estimates was 8-9 h. The delay between last heroin consumption and blood sampling in chronic drug users can be satisfactorily predicted from plasma heroin metabolites.
authors: Service de Toxicologie Clinique, Médico-légale, de l'Environnement et en Entreprise, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Liège, Belgium Centre Interfacultaire de Recherche du Médicament, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgium nathalie.dubois@chu.ulg.ac.be.
authors: Nathalie
authors: N
authors: Dubois
authors: Service Anesthésie-Réanimation, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Liège, Belgium.
authors: Claude
authors: C
authors: Hallet
authors: Service des Informations Médico-Economiques (SIME)-Biostatistique, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Liège, Belgium.
authors: Laurence
authors: L
authors: Seidel
authors: Service de Psychiatrie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Liège, Belgium.
authors: Isabelle
authors: I
authors: Demaret
authors: Service de Psychiatrie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Liège, Belgium.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Luppens
authors: Service de Psychiatrie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Liège, Belgium.
authors: Marc
authors: M
authors: Ansseau
authors: Service de Chimie Analytique, Département de Pharmacie, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgium.
authors: Eric
authors: E
authors: Rozet
authors: Service des Informations Médico-Economiques (SIME)-Biostatistique, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Liège, Belgium.
authors: Adelin
authors: A
authors: Albert
authors: Centre Interfacultaire de Recherche du Médicament, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgium Service de Chimie Analytique, Département de Pharmacie, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgium.
authors: Philippe
authors: P
authors: Hubert
authors: Service de Toxicologie Clinique, Médico-légale, de l'Environnement et en Entreprise, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Liège, Belgium Centre Interfacultaire de Recherche du Médicament, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgium.
authors: Corinne
authors: C
authors: Charlier
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001711:Biotransformation; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000379:methods*; D053593:Forensic Toxicology / Q000379:methods*; D003932:Heroin / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D019570:Inhalation Exposure; D016014:Linear Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D003932:Heroin