Tapering off and returning to buprenorphine maintenance in a primary care Office Based Addiction Treatment (OBAT) program

Buprenorphine is an effective treatment for opioid use disorder and guidelines recommend long term or even life-long treatment (Kraus et al., 2011); however, a majority of patients are interested in eventually tapering off buprenorphine (Kleber, 2007; Winstock et al., 2011). Some patients avoid starting medications altogether due to concern about their ability to eventually taper off (Appel et al., 2004; Peterson et al., 2010). Currently, physicians lack sufficient evidence to answer common patient questions about the frequency and feasibility of discontinuing buprenorphine for stable patients without causing relapse (Amato et al., 2011).
Source: Drug and Alcohol Dependence - Category: Addiction Authors: Tags: Full length article Source Type: research