Journal of pain & palliative care pharmacotherapy
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Dec 2013
ReviewDemystifying analytical approaches for urine drug testing to evaluate medication adherence in chronic pain management.
This comprehensive review of analytical methods used for urine drug testing for the support of pain management describes the methods, their strengths and limitations, and types of analyses used in clinical laboratories today. Specific applications to analysis of opioid levels are addressed. ⋯ Analytical explanations for unexpected results are described. This article describes the scientific basis for urine drug testing providing information which will allow clinicians to differentiate between valid and questionable claims for urine drug testing to monitor medication adherence among chronic pain patients.