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Query: UMLS:C0019158 (hepatitis)
 30,205 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

This article sets out to report the new hepatotoxic drugs identified during the course of 1989 and to describe the state of the art about drugs suspected of hepatotoxicity, such as amoxicillin-a clavulinic or, to a lesser extent, octreotide. In contrast, Exifone, a recently introduced drug, was withdrawn from the market within a year. One is surprised to find drugs such as Buprenorphine and Trimebutine listed, which have never induced clinical cases of hepatitis despite widespread use. The article also reviews the drugs with recognized hepatotoxicity and tries to present the most up-to-date information about them.
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PMID:[New aspects of drug hepatotoxicity]. 208 7

We present a case of a severe hepatitis associated with acute renal failure and anuria consequently to the ingestion of 112 mg of buprenorphine, 48 hours before. The normalisation of hepatic and renal functions is associated with discontinuation of buprenorphine administration and hemodialysis treatment. Buprenorphine seems to be directly responsible for this hepatonephritis as indicated by the high plasmatic levels of buprenorphine (224 ng/ml) and norbuprenorphine (30 ng/ml) never described until now. Buprenorphine toxicity could be due to the inappropriate ingestion mode (oral instead of sublingual) and could be increased by previous acetaminophen intake.
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PMID:[Hepatonephritis and massive ingestion of buprenorphine]. 1021 78

(1) The aim of replacement therapy for heroin addiction is to suppress craving for other opiates and to prevent opiate withdrawal symptoms. (2) In France, methadone was the first drug to be licensed for this use, in 1995, with very strict prescribing and dispensing conditions. Buprenorphine was approved in 1996, and was subject to less restrictive conditions. (3) In 2003 in France, an estimated 80 000 people were receiving replacement therapy with buprenorphine and 14 000 with methadone. (4) A meta-analysis of 13 comparative trials involving a total of 2544 patients showed that buprenorphine 6 to 12 mg initially reduced both opiate and benzodiazepine use, whereas doses of 2 to 4 mg had no marked impact on heroin use. This meta-analysis concluded that buprenorphine and methadone had similar efficacy in clinical trials in which the dose was adjusted to outcome. There were more dropouts with buprenorphine than with methadone. A daily dose of 16 mg appeared to be roughly equivalent to 60 mg/day methadone. (5) France appears to be the only country to have relied primarily on buprenorphine as replacement therapy for heroin addiction. This has been the case in France since 1996. The frequency of heroin overdose has fallen markedly in France since 1996, possibly due in part to the availability of replacement therapies. Overall mortality among drug users has also declined, but this is largely due to more effective treatment of HIV infection. (6) In France, a two-year cohort study of patients treated with buprenorphine and a survey conducted during the first year of buprenorphine replacement were funded by the manufacturer, Schering-Plough. The results showed that more than two-thirds of patients remained on treatment, and that, overall, the patients' general condition improved. (7) Opioid-like adverse effects are infrequent under normal conditions of use. There are reports of cases of hepatitis in patients taking buprenorphine, with or without a benzodiazepine. Attribution to buprenorphine is unclear, however, due to the lack of appropriate analyses. (8) Some of the key adverse effects occur during misuse: buprenorphine tablets are often injected, especially during the first few months of treatment (sometimes for more than two years). Injection carries a risk of infections; other potential long-term effects are poorly understood. Compared with methadone users, and regardless of the substances involved, buprenorphine users appear more likely to self-inject. (9) The consequences of sniffing crushed buprenorphine tablets have not been studied. (10) Deaths have been reported following buprenorphine overdose, but they appear to be less frequent than with methadone (0.2 and 0.7 deaths per 1000 users, respectively in 1998). (11) Approaches designed to help patients stop self-injecting have not been tested in comparative trials. Prescriptions of methadone syrup or an injection opiate may be worth trying when all other measures fail.
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PMID:Buprenorphine replacement therapy: a confirmed benefit. 1660 48

The objective of this prospective, multicenter, observational study was to evaluate healthcare for hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected drug abusers in France and to determine predictors of successful therapeutic intervention. A total of 170 drug users were recruited from 40 French centers. Three centers recruited 66 participants (38.8%), and one to eight patients each were enrolled from 37 other centers (n=104). A sustained viral response (SVR) was seen in 65 (38.2%) patients. SVR rates were significantly higher in compliant than in non-compliant patients (43.5% versus 23.9%; P=0.019), in patients from high- rather than low-recruiting centers (54.5% versus 27.9%; P<0.001) and in patients receiving Buprenorphine rather than methadone (48.1% versus 21.8%; P=0.001). In patients, who completed both the treatment and follow-up (n=94), SVR rate was 57.4%. Buprenorphine substitution therapy and genotypes 2 or 3 HCV infection were associated with significantly higher rates of SVR (P<0.01, for both comparisons). In conclusion, successful care of hepatitis requires an active treatment policy of every center toward drug addicts. Additional studies are needed to explore the difference in SVR with methadone versus Buprenorphine therapy.
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PMID:A French prospective observational study of the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in drug abusers. 1880 62

Heroin addiction is one of the most devastating and expensive of public health problems. The most effective treatment is opioid replacement therapy. Replacement of heroin, a short-acting euphoriant with methadone or other opioids that have significantly longer duration of action provides a number of therapeutic benefits. Opioid detoxification has a role in both preventing acute withdrawal and maintaining long-term abstinence. Opioid-based detoxification is based on the principle of cross-tolerance, in which one opioid is replaced with another one that is slowly tapered. For the treatment of heroin addicts a wide range of psychosocial and pharmacotherapeutic treatments are available; of these, methadone maintenance therapy has the most evidence of benefit. Methadone maintenance reduces and/or eliminates the use of heroin, reduces the death rate and criminality associated with heroin use, and allows patients to improve their health and social productivity. In addition, enrollment in methadone maintenance has the potential to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases associated with heroin injection, such as hepatitis and HIV. The principal effects of methadone maintenance are to relieve narcotic craving, suppress the abstinence syndrome, and block the euphoric effects associated with heroin. There is growing interest in expanding treatment into primary care, allowing opioid addiction to be managed like other chronic illnesses. Buprenorphine which is a long-acting partial agonist was also approved as pharmacotherapy for opioid dependence. Opioid antagonists can reduce heroin self-administration and opioid craving in detoxified addicts. Naltrexone, which is a long-acting competitive antagonist at the opioid receptors, blocks the subjective and objective responses produced by intravenous opioids. Naltrexone is employed to accelerate opioid detoxification by displacing heroin and as a maintenance agent for detoxified formerly heroin-dependent patients who want to remain opioid-free.
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PMID:[Therapy in heroin addiction]. 2534 42