Characterization of dextromoramide (Palfium) abuse by hair analysis in a denied case

By providing information on exposure to drugs over time, hair analysis is useful in verifying the history of drug use. In a clinical case, where drug abuse was denied, it was possible to identify dextromoramide in the hair of the subject. After acid hydrolysis of the hair with 0.1 M HCl, in the presence of SKF 525A as an internal standard, the drug was extracted at pH 8.4 with chloroform-isopropanol-n-heptane (50:17:33 v/v) and quantified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The hair strands were cut into 3 sections of 2.5 cm, corresponding to a growth period of 2 months. Concentrations were 1.09, 1.93 and 1.48 ng/mg from the root to the end, respectively. This is the first report on dextromoramide testing in human hair.