Incorporating Alcohol Pharmacotherapies Into Medical Practice: A Review of the Literature

This literature review is part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) 49, Incorporating Alcohol Pharmacotherapies Into Medical Practice. Developed by a panel of experts for SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), the TIP can assist physicians and other medical professionals in providing pharmacologic treatment, combined with psychosocial therapy, for patients who are alcohol dependent, both in primary care settings and in specialized substance abuse treatment settings.

TIP 49 focuses on the best currently recognized clinical practices for the medical maintenance of patients with alcohol use disorders (AUDs), using the four medications (disulfiram, oral naltrexone, injectable naltrexone, and acamprosate) approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for this purpose. The TIP presents best practices according to the scientific literature and the clinical experts who developed the TIP. This literature review emphasizes recent research published from 2000 to 2007 but also includes classic research studies published before 2000.

Contents

• 1. A Review of the Literature
  • Overview
  • Introduction
  • Recent Pharmacological Advances
  • Updated Findings From the Literature, October 2007
  • Approved Drugs for Treating Patients Dependent on Alcohol
  • Combined Medication Therapy
  • Research on Promising Drugs
  • Extent of Pharmacotherapy Use by Medical Care Providers
  • References
• 2. Annotated Bibliography
• 3. General Bibliography
• Appendix Methodology

This document is available online only (http://www​.kap.samhsa.gov) and supports TIP 49, Incorporating Alcohol Pharmacotherapies Into Medical Practice.