Preliminary Practical Findings on Drug Monitoring by a Transcutaneous Collection Device

Abstract

A noninvasive and nonocclusive skin patch (Sudormed™) was investigated for the systematic collection of drugs of abuse over a period of several days. First, the applicability and user friendliness were tested by volunteers. The permeability of the polyurethane dressing from the outside to the inside for an aqueous solution was shown by incubating the outside layer with Rhodamine B. No fluorescence could be detected in the cotton pad beneath. A single dose experiment using theophylline as a model compound showed that there was a delay in time before the substance could be determined in the pad. The drug content decreased with increasing time of patch application. When eight volunteers participating in a methadone treatment were monitored, the substitute drug could always be detected in the patch associated with a minor concentration of EDDP. Besides, in some of the patches investigated, indications for an abuse of cocaine and heroin were found. The so-called sweat patch appears to be a valuable tool in clinical and forensic toxicology, as it offers a longer and prospective surveillance period compared with blood and urine testing.

Perspiration versus saliva - basic aspects concerning their use in roadside drug testing

“…The presence of various drugs on the skin surface has been reported, including amphetamines [16,30,36,64,69], cocaine [1,4,10,58,59,61,62], opioids [10,26,37,38,40,48,51,58] and phencyclidine [12]. Although it is poorly understood how nonvolatile chemicals exit the body through the skin, potential pathways for drug molecules to reach the skin surface are via (Fig.…”

“…N-Methyl-1-(3,4-methylenedioxylphenyl)-2-butanamine (MBDB) and 3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl-2-butanamine (BDB) were excreted into perspiration with an increase in concentration during the first 36 h following a single dose of 100 mg MBDB in one subject [36]. In skin patches an- Table 5 Opiate concentrations (GC/MS) in skin swabs (skin area: 25 cm 2 ) from opiate-related fatalities (n = 8) [59], and in perspiration patches from patients treated with constant, but individually different doses of methadone (0.4 -1.2 mg/kg, n = 8) [58] Drug alyzed by GC/MS the peak concentrations were 44 ng MBDB/patch and 23 ng BDB/patch. Recently, an enzyme immunoassay was modified for analysis of methamphetamine from perspiration with an optimum cut-off concentration of 10 ng amphetamine equivalents/ml [16].…”

Simultaneous analysis of buprenorphine, methadone, cocaine, opiates and nicotine metabolites in sweat by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

“…Several methods were published for the determination of opiates [11, 12], cocaine [13, 14], buprenorphine (BUP) [15], methadone [16], and nicotine [17] in sweat. Skopp et al [18] adapted a hair methadone method for sweat, and Cone et al [6] a blood and oral fluid heroin, cocaine and metabolites method for sweat. Only two published gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) methods permit simultaneous quantification of different classes of drugs in sweat, such as cocaine, opiates and methadone [7], and cocaine, opiates, THC and benzodiazepines [15].…”

Drugs of abuse in a non‐conventional sample; detection of methamphetamine and its main metabolite, amphetamine in abusers' clothes by HPLC with UV and fluorescence detection

“…However, no accurate investigation concerning quantitative excretion of drugs into it has been performed because it is difficult to estimate the volume of sweat excreted and the volume collected for analysis (Inoue and Seta, 1992). The presence of abused drugs in human perspiration has been reported, including phenobarbital (Smith and Pomposini, 1981), alcohol (Phillips and McAlcoon, 1980), cocaine (Smith and Liu, 1986;Kidwell et al, 1997;Joseph et al, 1998;Preston et al, 1999), methadone (Skopp et al, 1996;Taylor et al, 1998;Kintz et al, 1998); theophylline (Skopp et al, 1996), opiates (Tracqui et al, 1995;Joseph et al, 1998;Taylor et al, 1998;Kintz et al, 1996) and methamphetamine (MP) (Ishiyama et al, 1979;Suzuki et al, 1989;Fay et al, 1996). Sweat samples are usually obtained using a filter paper and gauze (Suzuki et al, 1989), a sweat patch (Joseph et al, 1998;Preston et al, 1999;Skopp et al, 1996;Taylor et al, 1998;Kintz et al, 1996Kintz et al, , 1998Fay et al, 1996) or clothes (Tracqui et al, 1995;Smith and Pomposini, 1981;Smith and Liu, 1986).…”

“…Sweat samples are usually obtained using a filter paper and gauze (Suzuki et al, 1989), a sweat patch (Joseph et al, 1998;Preston et al, 1999;Skopp et al, 1996;Taylor et al, 1998;Kintz et al, 1996Kintz et al, , 1998Fay et al, 1996) or clothes (Tracqui et al, 1995;Smith and Pomposini, 1981;Smith and Liu, 1986). Analysis is carried out by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) (Tracqui et al, 1995;Kidwell et al, 1997;Joseph et al, 1998;Preston et al, 1999;Skopp et al, 1996;Kintz et al, 1996;Suzuki et al, 1989;Fay et al, 1996), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with diode array detector (Skopp et al, 1996) or MS (Kintz et al, 1998), radioimmunoassay (Smith and BIOMEDICAL CHROMATOGRAPHY Biomed. Chromatogr.…”