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Published:
Journal of Analytical Toxicology,
ISSN 0146-4760,
Volume 31, Number 2, March 2007,
pp.105-109
SHORT COMMUNICATION: Validation of Meconin as a Marker
for Illicit Opiate Use
Stephen R. Morley, A. Robert W. Forrest, and John H. Galloway
Toxicology Section, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Royal Hallamshire, Glossop
Road, Sheffield, S10 2JF, United Kingdom
The detection of markers for illicit opiate misuse is important
both in the management of substance misuse and in the postmortem identification
of illicit opiate use. In addition to 6-monoacetylmorphine and acetyl codeine,
other markers, such as papaverine, noscapine, and their metabolites, have been
proposed as markers of illicit opiate use. Urine samples (362) from individuals
attending substance misuse services and 26 postmortem cases were analyzed for
meconin, a noscapine metabolite by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry.
Three hundred of the substance misuse service samples and 14 of the postmortem
samples had morphine present as the major opiate. Meconin was detected in 284
(94.7%) of these substance misuse samples and 11 (78%) of the postmortem samples.
There was a specificity of 100% in both groups. In the 62 substance misuse cases
where morphine was not the major opiate detected and four separate cases in
which medicinal diamorphine was known to have been administered, meconin was
not detected. The use of meconin as a useful adjunct in detecting illicit opiate
use is recommended.
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