Anesthesia Assisted Rapid Opiate Detoxification (AAROD) is a safe and effective method to rapidly detoxify the body at the receptor level of active opiates. AAROD detoxifies the body of active opiates in 6 hours or less under the medical care of an anesthesiologist and skilled nurses. The AAROD procedure is safely conducted in a clinically equipped medical/surgical area by staff trained and experienced in the AAROD procedure.
AAROD has been used worldwide for the past 10 years and has shown to provide successful outcomes much higher than traditional methods of detoxification. With AAROD, the patient's withdrawal is greatly reduced in length and severity of withdrawal symptoms. The major effects of withdrawal occur while the patient is asleep and stabilized under controlled anesthesia.
With AAROD the hospital stay is much shorter than traditional rapid opiate detoxification, which can last several days. Other dependency producing drugs such as methadone are not used to replace the opiates and accomplish withdrawal. The patient is able to immediately enter continuing care, and return to work, family, and normal activities much sooner than traditional detoxification methods.
Under the monitored care of a licensed Anesthesiologists (MD), the patient is put under deep sedation for four to six hours with general anesthesia. Administration of the opiate antagonist and a pharmaceutical formula of several medications then flush out the existing active opiates from the patient's opiate receptor sites. Vital signs are monitored at all times, checking for blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, oxygen intake and medicinal delivery.
The actual detoxification process (detox under anesthesia) requires a licensed Anesthesiologist (MD) and two nurses who are specifically trained in the AAROD procedure and who will be present at bedside throughout the entire process.
During this rapid opiate detoxification, the patient is completely sedated, experiencing the procedure without significant detoxification withdrawal. The patient is then carefully monitored in an in-patient setting and is typically released within 24-48 hours of admittance, after a medical examination and a continuing care program has been arranged.
Discharge and Continuing Care
The patient is discharged the following morning after the AAROD procedure and ongoing recovery commences. MRODS recognizes that detoxification is only the first step in recovery from opiate dependency. Upon completion of the AAROD phase of treatment and discharge from hospitalization, the patient begins a continuing care program to assure continuing recovery.
Depending on the patients individual needs this may include the following:
- Outpatient treatment
- Follow-up with a pain specialists
- Residential treatment
- Individual counseling
MRODS has a local and national network of approved providers which meets the most stringent criteria for excellence in addiction and pain medicine. MRODS provides follow-up and support for one year after discharge. The patient also begins a six-month regimen with an FDA approved non addicting relapse prevention drug taken daily orally or as a Naltrexone injection implant, which is replaced every two months.