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Biomedical subjects

S S Seow

Publications and source records attributed to S S Seow.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1986

Buprenorphine: a new maintenance opiate?

Heroin-dependent out-patients who had been prescribed buprenorphine by general practitioners took part in a controlled study in which 2 mg or 4 mg of buprenorphine were administered by the sublingual route to assess its acceptability as a maintenance opiate and to determine the effects of its abrupt withdrawal and reintroduction a week later. Subjects who received 4 mg of buprenorphine reported being more intoxicated and having fewer symptoms of opiate withdrawal than did the subjects who received the 2-mg dose. Subjects who received the higher dose also abused opiate and benzodiazepine drugs less frequently. When buprenorphine was ceased abruptly, the subjects reported mild withdrawal discomfort for which many requested symptomatic treatment. The reintroduction of buprenorphine caused their condition to restabilize. The subjects' use of opiate drugs, as shown by urine assay, rose from a prevalence of around 15% of specimens at the beginning to about 50% of specimens at the end of the five-week study period. Sublingual buprenorphine was acceptable to opiate-addicted outpatients as a maintenance treatment. However, daily doses of greater than 4 mg will probably be required to suppress concurrent opiate abuse, and detoxification will need to be undertaken gradually.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1984

A case of buprenorphine abuse.

Buprenorphine is a powerful new analgesic agent with agonist and antagonist opiate receptor activity. Its withdrawal symptoms have been reported as being mild; however, its potential for abuse is not known. A case of buprenorphine abuse is reported, in which the patient's history and his response to naloxone suggest that important underlying factors were physical tolerance and dependence.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Hepatitis in drug dependents.

A survey of viral liver disease in 130 drug dependents attending the WAADA in August to November 1977 revealed 58 per cent with serological stigmata of hepatitis B infection. Of those who were HBsAg negative (excluding 31 patients in whom history and physical examination were insufficient for clinical diagnosis of hepatitis) 50 to 65 per cent had some degree of liver dysfunction. Some of this in the HBsAg negative, Anti HBs negative group could have been due to non-A non-B hepatitis. Twenty patients had liver biopsies and 16 (80 per cent) of these had chronic hepatitis, of whom nine (45 per cent) had the more ominous chronic aggressive hepatitis. The high levels of preference for intravenous use of drugs (83 per cent injected themselves on more than half the occasions) and close association with other addicts raised concern about these patients acting as a reservoir of B and non-A non-B hepatitis infection to the population at large. It was noted that the carriage rate of hepatitis B in the WAADA addicts was 80 per times that of the general population.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Extraneous drug use in methadone-supported patients.

Weekly urine specimens were collected and analysed from 231 patients receiving daily oral methadone support from the Western Australian Alcohol and Drug Authority over all or part of an eight-week period. Patients were assigned to three dosage groups. The study revealed that patients receiving 80 mg or more of methadone per day had significantly higher levels of extraneous drugs than patients receiving lower daily doses. The levels of extraneous drugs were found to be low compared to the findings of researchers elsewhere. Possible factors contributing to the increased usage of extraneous drugs are suggested, and disadvantages of high methadone dosage are indicated.

Adult↗