Cocaine: History, Use, Abuse
Journal of the Royal Society of MedicinePublished 1 August 1999Open access
Steven B. Karch
Citations60
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score1.71
SNIP1.79
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TL;DR
The net effect of technical advances in the cocaine trade has been to increase the amount of cocaine that users of this drug can get into their bodies.
Keywords
PsychologyNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics
New England Journal of MedicineCerebrovascular Complications of the Use of the Crack Form of Alkaloidal Cocaine
385 Citations1990Steven R. Levine, John C.M. Brust +9 more
There is a strong temporal association of the use of alkaloidal cocaine with both ischemic and hemorrhagic cerebrovascular events that should be part of the evaluation of any young patient with a stroke.
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Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental TherapeuticsSmoked and intravenous cocaine in humans: acute tolerance, cardiovascular and subjective effects.
201 Citations1991Richard W. Foltin, Marian W. Fischman
The effects of specific cocaine plasma levels on cardiovascular activity and some subjective reports were diminished across the session, demonstrating the development of acute tolerance to cocaine.
Journal of Forensic SciencesThe “Body Packer Syndrome”—Toxicity Following Ingestion of Illicit Drugs Packaged for Transportation
197 Citations1981Charles V. Wetli, Roger E. Mittleman
The "body packer syndrome" should be considered in any international traveler who dies suddenly, has seizures, or presents with any signs consistent with cocaine toxicity, as it is found in victims found dead at home or in hotel rooms with little or no drug paraphernalia.
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175 Citations1994Julie K. Staley, William Lee Hearn +3 more
Journal of Forensic SciencesFatal Excited Delirium Following Cocaine Use: Epidemiologic Findings Provide New Evidence for Mechanisms of Cocaine Toxicity
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The epidemiologic findings are most consistent with the hypothesis that chronic cocaine use disrupts dopaminergic function and, when coupled with recent cocaine use, may precipitate agitation, delirium, aberrant thermoregulation, rhabdomyolysis, and sudden death.
Progress in Cardiovascular DiseasesCocaine-induced myocardial ischemia and infarction: Pathophysiology, recognition, and management
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The National Drug Control Strategy, 1996–2005
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CirculationHemodynamic and electrophysiological actions of cocaine. Effects of sodium bicarbonate as an antidote in dogs.
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It is concluded that high-dose cocaine possesses negative inotropic and potent type I electrophysiological effects and sodium bicarbonate selectively reversed cocaine-induced QRS prolongation and may be a useful treatment of ventricular arrhythmias associated with slowed ventricular conduction in the setting of cocaine overdose.
Journal of Forensic SciencesRelating Cocaine Blood Concentrations to Toxicity—an Autopsy Study of 99 Cases
114 Citations1998Steven B. Karch, Boyd G. Stephens +1 more
Reduced BMI and increased heart weights in CTOX must be a consequence of long term cocaine use, but BE is higher in cocaine-related deaths, which is consistent with cocaine induced heart failure.
Journal of Forensic SciencesAnalysis of Cocaine-Positive Fatalities
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A review of all autopsy and toxicology reports for persons dying in New York City in an 11-month period found 935 persons dying with cocaine in their bodies, and of particular interest were 6 persons who died of acute cardiac events directly related to cocaine.
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Findings demonstrate for the first time that κ2 receptor numbers are upregulated by cocaine exposure and may play a role in the motivational incentive associated with episodes of binge cocaine use and in the dysphoria that follows abrupt cocaine withdrawal.
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral ReviewsChanges in body temperature after administration of adrenergic and serotonergic agents and related drugs including antidepressants: II
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This survey continues a second series of compilations of data regarding changes in body temperature induced by drugs and related agents, published from 1980 to 1984 but data from many earlier papers are also tabulated.
The LancetEPIDEMIC FREE-BASE COCAINE ABUSE
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This is the first report of a nationwide medical epidemic due almost exclusively to this form of the drug, although similar problems are reported with smoking coca paste in South America.
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Analysis of paired samples by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry revealed dramatic differences in the cocaine concentration, and the magnitude and direction of the change appears to be site dependent.
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The degree of myocardial hypertrophy documented in this study was highly significant, but because the increase is modest (around 10%), it is likely to go unrecognized at autopsy.
Critical Reviews in ToxicologyCocaine: A Review of Its Toxic Actions on Cardiac Function
73 Citations1995George E. Billman
The adrenergic and local anesthetic properties of cocaine could act synergistically to elicit toxic actions on the heart in the genesis of malignant arrhythmias.
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental TherapeuticsCardiovascular responses to cocaine are initially mediated by the central nervous system in rats.
73 Citations1992Mark M. Knuepfer, C A Branch
The data suggest that cocaine produces an initial, brief centrally mediated sympathoexcitation, but the sustained, modest pressor response is dependent upon peripheral actions that are diminished by baroreflex activation.
Journal of EthnopharmacologyCocaine in blood of coca chewers
68 Citations1979Bo Holmstedt, Jan‐Erik Lindgren +2 more
There is no reason to believe that the stimulating effect achieved by the use of either coca leaves or powder is not due to cocaine.
The Medical Journal of AustraliaCocaine abuse with hyperthermia, seizures and fatal complications
40 Citations1988Bruce Campbell
The case of a previously‐healthy woman who developed marked hyperthermia after the intravenous self‐administration of cocaine is described, followed by the development of rhabdomyolysis, disseminated intravascular coagulation, acute renal failure, impaired cerebral function and hepatic dysfunction.
Archives of Internal MedicineInfluence of Cocaine, Ethanol, or Their Combination on Epicardial Coronary Arterial Dimensions in Humans
38 Citations1995Mark J. Pirwitz
The combination of intranasal cocaine and intravenous ethanol causes an increase in the determinants of myocardial oxygen demand, however, it also causes a concomitant increase in epicardial coronary arterial diameter.
PubMedCardiomyopathy in a rat model of pheochromocytoma. Morphological and functional alterations.
34 Citations1988Jan S. Rosenbaum, Margaret E. Billingham +4 more
A catecholamine-induced cardiomyopathy in hearts from pheochromocytoma-bearing rats is demonstrated, whereas maximal contraction of heart muscle, induced by either isoproterenol or calcium chloride, remains intact.
NatureCocaine and the serotonin saga
33 Citations1998Francis J. White
The responses of the knockout mice to cocaine now indicate that the neurotransmitter serotonin was involved in the processes that underlie vulnerability to cocaine addiction, and that it is — through this receptor at least.
British Journal of AddictionEpidemic Cocaine Abuse: America's present, Britain's future?*
33 Citations1988Herbert D. Kleber
The historical setting in which cocaine first became a problem in America at the turn of the century and its recent re-emergence is reviewed and possible interventions that might lessen the problem if adopted are listed.
European Journal of PharmacologyMolecular characteristics of cocaine-induced cardiomyopathy in rats
30 Citations1997Sophie Besse, Patrick Assayag +6 more
In conclusion, cocaine activates markers of both hemodynamic overload and fibrosis, which may result from direct and/ or indirect effects of the drug such as myocardial ischemia, mechanical overload and/or hypothyroidism.
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American Journal of Forensic Medicine & PathologyIntroduction to the Forensic Pathology of Cocaine
25 Citations1991Steven B. Karch
A brief review of recent observations that bear on the forensic aspects of cocaine abuse.
AddictionIs crack cheaper than (powder) cocaine?
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Crack has been widely believed to be cheaper than powder cocaine, and this "fact" has been used to help explain why US drug problems worsened in the 1980s, but on average, crack is neither more nor less expensive per pure unit than Powder cocaine.
The American Journal of Emergency MedicineCardiac arrest in cocaine users
22 Citations1996Steven B. Karch
During 1994, researchers from a number of different laboratories reported observations that, taken together, may explain what cocaine does to the heart and go a long way toward explaining what causes cardiac arrest in cocaine users.
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Three cases are reported in which depression and desperation over cocaine dependence were the motivations for successful suicide, which was accomplished through the intravenous injection of cocaine to the point of death.
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6 Citations1999Steven B. Karch, Boyd G. Stephens +1 more
The findings suggest that acute cocaine toxicity is not enhanced by ethanol cocaine interactions, and it is possible that increased toxicity is apparent when much larger quantities of alcohol have been consumed.
PubMed[E. Merck and cocaine. On Sigmund Freud's cocaine studies and their relation to the Darmstadt industry].
5 Citations1995Albrecht Hirschmüller
Documents from the archives of the pharmaceutical company, E. Merck, Darmstadt, shed light on research, production, and marketing of cocaine and other coca alkaloids and how it is compared with that of other companies in Germany and abroad.
