We investigated the management and treatment of pregnant opioid users by Drug Treatment Services by region across England and Wales. A postal survey was conducted among 223 Community Drug Treatment Services (CDTS) across England and Wales. Sixtysix percent CDTS responded (n=154/233) to the survey. Over half CDTS (55.3%) provided a maintenance methadone dose lower than that recommended for non-p...

background: methadone is considered a long-acting opioid agonist which is widely used in the treatment of drug addiction. it is believed that opioids can cause erectile dysfunction (ed) by inhibiting gonadotropin and testosterone release. this study is aimed at defining the possible effects of conservative treatment with methadone on erectile dysfunction in the addicts. methods: a total of 382 ...

BACKGROUND Methadone treatment was introduced in Taiwan in 2006 as a harm-reduction program in response to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which is endemic among Taiwanese heroin users. The present study was aimed at examining the clinical and behavioral characteristics of methadone patients in northern Taiwan according to their HIV status. METHODS The study was conducted at four meth...

Injection drug use (IDU) continues to be a significant public health issue in the U.S. and internationally, and there is evidence to suggest that the burden of injection drug use and associated morbidity and mortality falls disproportionately on minority communities. IDU is responsible for a significant portion of new and existing HIV/AIDS cases in many parts of the world. In the U.S., the prev...

Many articles support the effectiveness of methadone treatment as an HIV prevention intervention for heroin users. The studies show that methadone treatment reduces needle use, sharing and number of sex partners. The studies also show that treatment increases use of condoms. Rather than summarizing each article, this document provides several citations to help users begin to access the literatu...

In the view of a clinician who has been providing methadone therapy since its inception 40 years ago, the status of the treatment today reflects the culmination of two trends: an increase in understanding, skills, and standards on the one hand, and a deterioration of patients' health on the other. A retreat of stigma, greater physician interest, and the evolution of standards are beginning to m...

BACKGROUND Heroin-assisted treatment has been found to be effective for people with severe opioid dependence who are not interested in or do poorly on methadone maintenance. AIMS To study heroin-assisted treatment in people on methadone who continue intravenous heroin and in those who are heroin dependent but currently not in treatment. METHOD In an open-label multicentre randomised control...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the pharmacokinetics (PK) and PK- pharmacodynamic (PD) relationship of methadone in a cohort of outpatients undergoing methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). METHODS Sixty male patients undergoing MMT with a mean ±SD methadone daily dosage of 58 ± 34 mg were enrolled in this study. A 5-ml blood sample was collected before the daily intake of methadone. As a PD measure...

BACKGROUND Buprenorphine is used in the treatment of opioid dependence. Due to its pharmacology, the transfer from methadone to buprenorphine may precipitate withdrawal symptoms. METHODS Methadone maintained patients with clinical indicators of stability who were seeking withdrawal from methadone were recruited from three Australian states. Patients on methadone doses between 30 and 40 mg wer...