Does naloxone cause a positive urine opiate screen?
Author(s): Storrow AB, Wians FH Jr, Mikkelsen SL, Norton J
Affiliation(s): Department of Emergency Medicine, Wilford Hall Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas.
Publication date & source: 1994-12, Ann Emerg Med., 24(6):1151-3.
Publication type: Clinical Trial; Randomized Controlled Trial
STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the excreted metabolites of naloxone hydrochloride cause positive urine toxicologic screens for opiates. DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, double-blinded human protocol. SETTING: Urban Level I military emergency department. PARTICIPANTS: Fourteen adult volunteers who took no routine medications, were not pregnant, had no known sensitivity to naloxone, and who were negative for a pretest urine and serum toxicologic screen. INTERVENTIONS: We administered either 2 or 4 mg IV naloxone to 14 subjects. Urine drug screening was obtained before administration and at 60 minutes, 6 hours, and 48 hours after administration. RESULTS: All urine drug screens using the enzyme-multiplied immunoassay technique were negative for opiates at both dosage levels. The sample size of 14 yielded a power of more than .99 to detect the difference between positive and negative samples. CONCLUSION: Although the metabolites of naloxone hydrochloride are similar in structure to oxymorphone and are excreted in human urine for several days, naloxone was not associated with a positive enzymatic urine screen for opiates.
|