Treatment of opioid dependence in adolescents and young adults with extended release naltrexone: preliminary case-series and feasibility

Authors: Fishman, Marc J.; Winstanley, Erin L.; Curran, Erin; Garrett, Shannon; Subramaniam, Geetha

Source: Addiction, Volume 105, Number 9, September 2010 , pp. 1669-1676(8)

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Abstract:

Background

Opioid dependence is an increasing problem among adolescents and young adults, but in contrast to the standard in the adult population, adoption of pharmacotherapies has been slow. Extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX) is a promising treatment that has been receiving increasing interest for adult opioid dependence. Clinical chart abstractions were performed on a convenience sample of 16 serial adolescent and young adult cases (mean age 18.5 years) treated for opioid dependence with XR-NTX who attended at least one out-patient clinical follow-up visit. Case descriptions

Of these 16 cases, 10 of 16 (63%) were retained in treatment for at least 4 months and nine of 16 (56%) had a `good' outcome defined as having substantially decreased opioid use, improvement in at least one psychosocial domain and no new problems due to substance use. Conclusions

These descriptive results suggest that XR-NTX in the treatment of adolescents and young adults with opioid dependence is well tolerated over a period of 4 months and feasible in a community-based treatment setting, and associated with good outcomes in a preliminary, small non-controlled case-series. This probably reflects an overall trend towards greater adoption of medication treatments for this population.

Keywords: Adolescents; extended-release naltrexone; naltrexone; opioid dependence; medication assisted treatment; pharmacotherapy; young adults

Document Type: Case report

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.03015.x

Affiliations: 1: Mountain Manor Treatment Center, MD, USA,

Publication date: 2010-09-01