Sadaf Rashid, Fatima Saleem, Sarah Hanif, Haider Imam, Syed Muhammad Omer, Muhammad Farooq-emergency Laboratory Sims/services Hospital Lahore, Abbas Ali Waris, Maryam Haroon Rashid.
Efficacy of Naltrexone in Preventing Relapse in Opioid Dependent Patients.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;6(3):549-51.

Objective: To assess efficacy of Naltrexone in preventing the relapse among opioid-dependent pts. Place of study: Departments of Psychiatry, Fatima Jinnah Medical College, Lahore and Khyber Medical College, Peshawar. Research design: Interventional design: Prospective, open-label, clinical trial. Sampling technique: Non-probability: Purposive Sampling. Study period: Six months: April, 2006 to October, 2006. Material & methods: Forty five male drug addicts; 25 from Lahore and 20 from Peshawar were included in the study. After detoxification, each patient was given 50 mg of Naltrexone daily under supervision of a care giver. Each patient was followed for 24 weeks. Results: On completion of the trial, 13 patients (28.9%) had relapsed while 71.1% were still abstinent as judged by Thin Layer Chromatography of urine. LFTs remained normal in all cases. Headache was the most frequent (29.7%) side effect followed by anxiety (27.4%) and loss of energy (25.3%). Conclusion: A high rate of abstinence (71.1%) coupled with a low incidence of side effects makes Naltrexone an acceptable mode of treatment for opioid dependence.

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