Unpredictable absorption of oral opioid medications in a quadriplegic patient with chronic enterocutaneous fistulas.

Filed under: Methadone Clinics

J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother. 2012 Sep; 26(3): 254-6
Viswesh VV

ABSTRACT Although there is an abundance of literature on the acute management of enterocutaneous fistulas, there is a paucity of data on the chronic management of enterocutaneous fistulas. Their impact on oral pharmacotherapy, including their effect on the bioavailability of oral medications, is poorly understood. This case describes a 23-year-old quadriplegic male with a complex history of multiple abdominal surgeries presented with three persistent enterocutaneous fistulas. Diazepam and furosemide were among the patient’s oral medications and had sufficient bioavailability to show efficacy on anxiety and pedal edema, respectively. Conversely, oral oxycodone and methadone were ineffective in controlling chronic pain despite high doses and aggressive titration. Due to inadequate pain control, the patient supplemented opioid medications with high doses of lorazepam and diazepam to augment psychological comfort. A trial of subcutaneous morphine successfully produced immediate analgesia, causing a marked reduction in benzodiazepine use. Enterocutaneous fistulas may reduce the bioavailability of oral medications to various degrees depending upon the medication. Further research is needed to elucidate the effect chronic enterocutaneous fistulas have on the bioavailability of oral medications. It is therefore important for clinicians to question the bioavailability of medications in the setting of enterocutaneous fistulas and poor clinical response.
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The comparison effects of intra-articular injection of different opioids on postoperative pain relieve after arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: A randomized clinical trial study.

Filed under: Methadone Clinics

J Res Med Sci. 2011 Sep; 16(9): 1176-82
Arti H, Mehdinasab SA

Pain after knee surgery, if not relieved, it would lead to a more severe and prolonged pain that can delay the patients recovery and rehabilitation. The effect of pain relief by some drugs after intra-articular injection has been shown. This study compared the effect of intra-articular injection of opioids (morphine, pethidine, methadone, and tramadol) on postoperative relieving pain after arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.150 candidate patients for knee arthroscopic ACL reconstruction were randomly enrolled into five groups. At the end of the procedure, all patients in each group received a joint injection solution including 9.5 millimeters bupivacaine with 1:200,000 epinephrine. The remaining 0.5 milliliters of syringe capacity was filled with one of the five solutions listed below: methadone group I: 5 mg methadone, morphine group II: 5 mg morphine, pethidine group III: 37.5 mg pethidine, tramadol group IV: 100 mg Tramadol, and control group V: 0.5 ml normal saline. Afterwards, any drug further administered to the patients based on need was recorded, and the morphine equivalent for all drugs was calculated. Patients need to narcotic drugs during the first twelve hours of hospitalization and pain scores were recorded. After data gathering, they were analyzed by SPSS 16 software with chi-Square, Kruskal-Wallis and ANOVA statistical tests.The highest and the lowest significant pain intensity were seen in placebo and morphine groups, respectively, in the first, second and third 4 hours after surgery. There were significant differences among the groups for need to analgesics. In other words, placebo group needed the highest dosage of analgesics and morphine and methadone groups needed the lowest dosage of analgesics. Morphine and methadone groups had maximum and minimum response to pain, respectively, in the first, second and third 4 hours after surgery.Administering 5 mg intra-articular morphine after arthroscopic ACL reconstruction is a valuable choice and is recommended to be added to other local anesthetics administrated drugs after this procedure.
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Effects of Dextromethorphan on reducing methadone dosage in opium addicts undergoing methadone maintenance therapy: A double blind randomized clinical trial.

Filed under: Methadone Clinics

J Res Med Sci. 2011 Oct; 16(10): 1354-60
Salehi M, Zargar A, Ramezani MA

Dextromethorphan (DM) is an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist that may be useful during opiate addiction process, especially in reducing methadone consumption in methadone maintenance therapy (MMT). The goal of the current study was to evaluate the effects of oral administration of DM on reducing methadone dose in MMT used to treat illicit opioid drug abuse.A double-blinded randomized clinical trial was designed. Seventy two opiate abusers undergoing MMT were randomly divided into two groups. Participants in the intervention group were medicated by DM while those in the control group received placebo. After a 6-week follow-up, methadone consumption dosage, quality of life (QOL) and withdrawal symptoms were assessed and compared between the two groups by repeated measure ANOVA statistical test.The mean of methadone consumption in the DM and control groups were 62.7 mg/day (52.7-72.7) and 70.4 mg/day (60.4-80.4), respectively. No statistically significant difference was found between the two groups among the four evaluations made (F = 1.192, P = 0.279). There were not any significant differences in withdrawal symptoms between the two groups (P > 0.05). Total mean scores of QOL in the intervention and control groups were 84.8 (78.7-90.8) and 77.8 (71.8-83.7) (P > 0.05), respectively.Although DM might be useful for opioid dependence treatment, results of the current study did not reveal any statistically significant differences. Therefore, further studies exploring this possibility are needed.
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Chronic methadone use, poor bowel visualization and failed colonoscopy: A preliminary study.

Filed under: Methadone Clinics

World J Gastroenterol. 2012 Aug 28; 18(32): 4350-6
Verma S, Fogel J, Beyda DJ, Bernstein B, Notar-Francesco V, Mohanty SR

To examine effects of chronic methadone usage on bowel visualization, preparation, and repeat colonoscopy.In-patient colonoscopy reports from October, 2004 to May, 2009 for methadone dependent (MD) patients were retrospectively evaluated and compared to matched opioid naive controls (C). Strict criteria were applied to exclude patients with risk factors known to cause constipation or gastric dysmotility. Colonoscopy reports of all eligible patients were analyzed for degree of bowel visualization, assessment of bowel preparation (good, fair, or poor), and whether a repeat colonoscopy was required. Bowel visualization was scored on a 4 point scale based on multiple prior studies: excellent = 1, good = 2, fair = 3, or poor = 4. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson ?(2) test were used for data analyses. Subgroup analysis included correlation between methadone dose and colonoscopy outcomes. All variables significantly differing between MD and C groups were included in both univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. P values were two sided, and < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.After applying exclusionary criteria, a total of 178 MD patients and 115 C patients underwent a colonoscopy during the designated study period. A total of 67 colonoscopy reports for MD patients and 72 for C were included for data analysis. Age and gender matched controls were randomly selected from this population to serve as controls in a numerically comparable group. The average age for MD patients was 52.2 ± 9.2 years (range: 32-72 years) years compared to 54.6 ± 15.5 years (range: 20-81 years) for C (P = 0.27). Sixty nine percent of patients in MD and 65% in C group were males (P = 0.67). When evaluating colonoscopy reports for bowel visualization, MD patients had significantly greater percentage of solid stool (i.e., poor visualization) compared to C (40.3% vs 6.9%, P < 0.001). Poor bowel preparation (35.8% vs 9.7%, P < 0.001) and need for repeat colonoscopy (32.8% vs 12.5%, P = 0.004) were significantly higher in MD group compared to C, respectively. Under univariate analysis, factors significantly associated with MD group were presence of fecal particulate [odds ratio (OR), 3.89, 95% CI: 1.33-11.36, P = 0.01] and solid stool (OR, 13.5, 95% CI: 4.21-43.31, P < 0.001). Fair (OR, 3.82, 95% CI: 1.63-8.96, P = 0.002) and poor (OR, 8.10, 95% CI: 3.05-21.56, P < 0.001) assessment of bowel preparation were more likely to be associated with MD patients. Requirement for repeat colonoscopy was also significant higher in MD group (OR, 3.42, 95% CI: 1.44-8.13, P = 0.01). In the multivariate analyses, the only variable independently associated with MD group was presence of solid stool (OR, 7.77, 95% CI: 1.66-36.47, P = 0.01). Subgroup analysis demonstrated a general trend towards poorer bowel visualization with higher methadone dosage. ANOVA analysis demonstrated that mean methadone dose associated with presence of solid stool (poor visualization) was significantly higher compared to mean dosage for clean colon (excellent visualization, P = 0.02) or for those with liquid stool only (good visualization, P = 0.01).Methadone dependence is a risk factor for poor bowel visualization and leads to more repeat colonoscopies. More aggressive bowel preparation may be needed in MD patients. Source

Alex Weber, The London Free Press

Filed under: Methadone Clinics

New rules about the location of methadone clinics came into effect in March. New clinics aren't permitted within 300 metres of schools, pools, arenas and libraries, but the new rules don't apply to clinics serving less than 40 patients. Marsha says the …
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