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Hair Testing for Classic Drugs of Abuse to Monitor Cocaine Use Disorder in Patients Following Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Protocol Treatment

Authors :
Maria Concetta Rotolo
Roberta Pacifici
Manuela Pellegrini
Stefano Cardullo
Luis J. Gómez Pérez
Diego Cuppone
Luigi Gallimberti
Graziella Madeo
Source :
Biology, Vol 10, Iss 5, p 403 (2021)
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2021.

Abstract

In recent years, hair has become an alternative biological specimen for drug testing in the fields of forensic and clinical toxicology. The advantages of hair testing include larger detection windows (months/years), depending on the length of the hair shaft, compared to those of urine/blood (hours to 2–4 days for most drugs). Segmental hair analysis can disclose a month-to-month (considering 1 cm segment cuts) information of drug exposure (single or repeated) and potentially identify patterns of drug use/administration. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) was recently proposed as a valid tool for therapeutic purposes in addictions, including cocaine use disorder (CocUD). Here, we proposed hair testing analyses of classic drugs of abuse in a clinical setting to monitor the clinical changes in treatment-seeker CocUD patients undergoing protocol treatments with rTMS stimulating the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (l-DLPFC). We collected hair samples from nine CocUD patients at different stages from the beginning of treatments. Hair sample analyses revealed significant changes in the patterns of cocaine use, according to the negativity of urine screening tests and the clinical reductions of craving. These data, albeit preliminary, suggest that hair testing analysis of classic drugs of abuse could be extended to clinical settings to monitor the clinical efficacy of innovative therapeutic interventions, such as rTMS.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20797737
Volume :
10
Issue :
5
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Biology
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.5c860b58ce4aa9b1dc286ee2097c25
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/biology10050403