Rapid Transition to Buprenorphine in a Patient With Methadone-Related QTc Interval Prolongation

Conclusions A patient requiring an urgent taper off of methadone due to adverse cardiac effects successfully transitioned to buprenorphine/naloxone within 2 hours by using naltrexone to precipitate withdrawal followed by a “rescue” with buprenorphine/naloxone. A relatively high dose of 16 mg/4 mg buprenorphine/naloxone successfully arrested withdrawal symptoms. With further refinement, this protocol may be an important technique for urgent methadone-to-buprenorphine transitions in the inpatient setting.
Source: Journal of Addiction Medicine - Category: Addiction Tags: Case Reports Source Type: research