NICOTINE METABOLITE QUANTITATIVE(O.S)

Overview

Monitoring patients on nicotine-replacement therapy for concurrent use of tobacco products. Quantification of urine nicotine and metabolites while a patient is actively using a tobacco product is useful to define the concentrations that a patient achieves through self-administration of tobacco. Nicotine replacement dose can then be tailored to achieve the same concentrations early in treatment to assure adequate nicotine replacement so the patient may avoid the strong craving they may experience early in the withdrawal phase. This can be confirmed by measurement of urine nicotine and metabolite concentrations at steady-state (2-3 days after replacement therapy is started). Once the patient is stabilized on the dose necessary to achieve complete replacement and responding well to therapy, the replacement dose can be slowly tapered to achieve complete withdrawal.