Acute poisonings in the course of drug addiction: chemicotoxicological diagnostics

A demand for a quick and reliable diagnostics of acute and chronic poisonings with drugs of abuse, monitoring of the treatment of drug abusers and controlling their abstinence lead to a search for the most useful diagnostic methods for clinical aims and certification. Our observations concerning the importance of toxicological investigation, particularly the use of Triage rapid immunoassay, in the diagnostics of acute poisonings and the abstinence control of dependent people were presented. Urine of 418 poisoned people and 7 "detoxificated' patients treated at the Department of Toxicology in Kraków in the years 1991-1995 was examined, and in 54 cases Triage method was used (seven drugs of abuse were determined: amphetamine, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cocaine, methadone, opiates and tetrahydrocannabinoids), which was later confirmed using the Fluorescence Polarisation immunoassay, measured with the Vitalab Eclair. An increase in number of admitted patients to the Department of Toxicology was noted and the need for reliable diagnostics concerning the increasing number of cases in which inconsistency of the drug declared in the interview with the toxicological findings was stated. Triage method used in the examinations proved to be very useful for clinical diagnostics in quick determination of drugs of abuse in urine. The result should be confirmed using another, preferential method for the poison found in biological material.