APA MEETING: Study Justifies Use Of Ultra Rapid OpiateDetox
TORONTO, ON -- June 3, 1998 -- The first ever long-term clinical study of Ultra Rapid Opiate Detoxification (UROD) has concluded that, in a study group, 55 percent of addicts treated with the process remained relapse free after six months, according to a report issued today at the annual convention of the American Psychiatric Association.
UROD, a process which detoxifies individuals under anesthesia within four to seven hours,was found to be 100 percent successful in its detoxification rate on the study group of 93 men and 27 women studied in New York City and Miami Beach, according to the report's lead researchers, Anthony Albanese, M.D., Clifford Gevirtz, M.D. and Bennett Oppenheim,Ph.D.
"These findings are significant in that traditional opiate detoxification methods produce a long-term success rate of between 10 to 20 percent for heroin, methadone, morphine and narcotic pain killer addicts,” Dr. Oppenheim said. “This marks the first long-term study of the procedure and the results justify our initial projections."
Dr. Oppenheim is the clinical director of CITAmericas (CITA), which has the sole license to the UROD process. CITA currently operates UROD centres under the supervision of board certified physicians at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago and Metropolitan Hospital Center in New York City.
CITA initiated the UROD process at Metropolitan Hospital Center in 1996. To date, over 6,000 patients world-wide and 600 in the U.S. have been treated with the CITA method of UROD.
Under the procedure, the patient receives a treatment consisting of various drugs for four to seven hours while under anesthesia, eliminating all the discomfort associated with detoxification/drug withdrawal. Included as part of the CITA program, the patient is given
extensive aftercare, including medication and a program of psychiatric counselling. The cost for each procedure is approximately $7,000.
The long-term study was designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of UROD by studying two parallel groups consisting of 120 patients at Metropolitan Hospital Center in New York and Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach. The study group consisted of 93 men and 27 women, aged 18 to 55, with opiate addiction who volunteered to undergo detoxification.
The UROD treatment produced a 100 percent success rate for the 120 participants, with low morbidity and no mortality. Relapse data was available for 111 of original group (90 percent) with 61 (55 percent) relapse free at the six month follow up interval.
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