ABSTRACT
Overall, there appeared to be a decline in frequency of use in the substance patterns of the 46 cases investigated for this analysis. The rising frequency with which prescription drugs are reported may be explained by the fact that these clients are in treatment, a situation which frequently necessitates the prescription of various medications. Additionally, the rise in methadone use can also be explained by the fact that it is prescribed to individuals who are undergoing treatment for a heroin addiction. Finally, it is probable that polysubstance use is underreported in the intake data, thus explaining the apparent increase reported at follow-up.
Subject(s)
Mental Health Services/organization & administration , Substance-Related Disorders/rehabilitation , Demography , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , New Mexico/epidemiology , Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care , Patients/classification , Prisons , Substance-Related Disorders/classification , Substance-Related Disorders/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Vomiting due to malignant intestinal obstruction is an unpleasant terminal event in many cancer patients, which responds poorly to conventional therapies. Somatostatin and its long-acting analogues reduce intestinal secretion. For this reason, octreotide was used in a phase I/II study of patients with intractable vomiting secondary to intestinal obstruction due to malignant disease. Vomiting was controlled or the volume of nasogastric aspirate was markedly reduced in 18 of 24 (75%) patients receiving a subcutaneous infusion of octreotide (median initial dose 300, range 100-600 micrograms/day) for a median of 9.4 (range 1-38) days. A further 2 patients had partial relief of their symptoms. Octreotide is an effective treatment of nausea and vomiting due to malignant bowel obstruction.
