Top Ad

Showing posts with label metabolism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label metabolism. Show all posts

November 10, 2015

Narcotics Family Tree

Sometimes it is instructive to see how all the different narcotics are related to each other. It may surprise people that when a narcotic is swallowed, it often will be converted to another different narcotic by the body. For example, both codeine and heroin are metabolized by the liver into morphine which is the actual "active" metabolite resulting in pain relief.  Codeine is also converted into hydrocodone which is the narcotic contained in vicodin and norco. Morphine, oxycodon…
Continue Reading

October 15, 2012

Why Are Some Patients Sensitive to Narcotics and Others are Not?

Blame cytochrome P450 2D6, also known as CYP2D6. Found in the liver, it is responsible for metabolizing drugs including many narcotics. It also determines how "sensitive" a patient is to these drugs. For example, codeine is not bioactive until it is metabolized by CYP2D6 into morphine, the bioactive form that helps with pain. As such, how "sensitive" a patient is to codeine is determined by how active their CYP2D6 is. The more active, the more quickly codeine is c…
Continue Reading

Banner Map

Pediatric Neck Masses

Adult Neck Mass Workup