F. Gabriele, S.-M. Kathrin, E. Petra, E. Harald, J. Reinhold, and G. Wolfgang

Clinical Department of General Psychiatry, University Clinic of Psychiatry, Vienna, Austria

The use and effects of methadone during pregnancy have been well investigated. Alternative substances like morphine have been applied during pregnancies in opiate addicts and showed safety for the unborn child. Both, methadone and morphine improved the situation for mother and child in comparison to heroin exposure but yielded to art enhanced neonatal withdrawal syndrome. Reisinger reported, at the CPDD 1995, regarding low dose buprenorphine maintenance in pregnant opiate addicts, that withdrawal syndrome did not occur in the newborn. At the drug addiction out-patient clinic in Vienna, seven opiate addicts with a mean duration of pregnancy of 28 weeks were maintained on sublingual buprenorphine during pregnancy. The subjects were switched from a mean daily dosage of 430mg slow-release morphine to a mean daily dosage of buprenorphine of 9 mg. The subjects were integrated in an already established program with obstetricians and pediatricians and until delivery followed on an out-patients basis, observed 3 times a week. Supervised urine samples were examined weekly for toxicology to exclude illegal drug consumption. Buprenorphine was well tolerated in the females. Our preliminary results demonstrate that the newborns showed a decreased opiate withdrawal syndrome in comparison to morphine or methadone exposure during pregnancies.

Source:

http://www.cpdd.vcu.edu/97abs/gabriele.html