Clinical Review
Safe Use of Buprenorphine/Naloxone in a Veteran With Acute Hepatitis C Virus Infection
Case in Point
Fed Pract. 2011 September;28(9):18
Author and Disclosure Information
Anjali Varma, MD; Mamta Sapra, MD; Nancy Eck, FNP; Joseph Smigiel, PharmD; and Stephanie Brooks, LCSW
Dr. Varma is the lead psychiatrist, Ms. Eck is a nurse practitioner, Dr. Smigiel is a psychiatry pharmacy specialist, and Ms. Brooks is a licensed clinical social worker, all in the Buprenorphine Clinic at the Salem VA MEdical Center in Virginia. Dr. Sapra is a staff psychiatrist at the Salem VA Medical Center, Drs. Varma and Sapra are also assistant professors in the department of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville.
As the number of veterans with multiple injuries and hepatitis C virus increases, these clinicians address concerns regarding the best course of treatment while considering opioid abuse disorders, liver safety, and mental health disorders.
Prescription opioid use disorders are the fastest growing type of drug use disorders in the United States.1 All federal practitioners are treating increasing numbers of returning Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veterans.
a umber of these veterans have sustained multiple combat injuries, and their injury-related painful conditions have made them candidates for opioid therapy.