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Ultra‐rapid opiate detoxification: from clinical applications to basic science
Author(s) -
STREEL EMMANUEL,
VERBANCK PAUL
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
addiction biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.445
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1369-1600
pISSN - 1355-6215
DOI - 10.1080/1355621031000117365
Subject(s) - opiate , detoxification (alternative medicine) , naltrexone , addiction , medicine , (+) naloxone , psychiatry , antagonist , psychology , pharmacology , alternative medicine , receptor , pathology
Abstract Rapid or ultra‐rapid opiate detoxification has become increasingly popular in both private and public addiction centres. These techniques seem to facilitate the transfer of opiate‐dependent patients from opiate agonist to opiate antagonist. Despite the probable complex neuropharmacological aspects involved in these procedures, their development over nearly three decades is notable for the almost complete absence of clinically relevant animal studies. This paper discusses the historical background of this occurrence, and reviews the small number of animal studies that have been conducted. Many discussions and arguments about the techniques seem to underscore their true purpose, which is not “simply to detoxify” opiate‐addicted patients but to initiate long‐term management with naltrexone. For this reason, it may be better to conceptualize these techniques not as “rapid detoxification” but as “rapid antagonist induction”.