Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 55, Issue 2 , Pages 190-197 , February 2010

Methamphetamine Body Stuffers: An Observational Case Series

  • Patrick L. West, MD

      Affiliations

    • Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR
    • Oregon Poison Center, Portland, OR
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress for reprints: Patrick L. West, MD, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, CB 550, Portland, OR 97239
    • ,
  • Nathanael J. McKeown, DO

      Affiliations

    • Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR
    • Oregon Poison Center, Portland, OR
    • Portland Veterans Administration Medical Center, Portland, OR
    • ,
  • Robert G. Hendrickson, MD

      Affiliations

    • Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR
    • Oregon Poison Center, Portland, OR

Received 18 March 2009 ,Revised 6 August 2009 ,Accepted 10 August 2009.

References 

  1. Roberts JR, Price D, Goldfrank L, et al. The bodystuffer syndrome: a clandestine form of drug overdose. Am J Emerg Med. 1986;4:24–27
  2. June R, Aks SE, Keys N, et al. Medical outcome of cocaine bodystuffers. J Emerg Med. 2000;18:221–224
  3. Sporer KA, Fireston J. Clinical course of crack cocaine body stuffers. Ann Emerg Med. 1997;29:596–601
  4. Traub SJ, Hoffman RS, Nelson LS. Body packing—the internal concealment of illicit drugs. N Engl J Med. 2004;350:1259–1265
  5. Hoffman RS, Chiang WK. Prospective evaluation of “crack-vial” ingestions. Vet Hum Toxicol. 1990;32:164–167
  6. Kuczenski R, Segal DS. Differential effects of amphetamine and dopamine uptake blockers (cocaine, nomifensine) on caudate and accumbens dialysate dopamine and 3-methoxytyramine. J Pharm Exp Ther. 1992;262:1085–1094
  7. Florin SM, Kuczenski R, Segal DS. Regional extracellular norepinephrine responses to amphetamine and cocaine and effects of clonidine pretreatment. Brain Res. 1994;654:53–62
  8. Newton TF, DeLaGarza R, Kalechstein AD, et al. Cocaine and methamphetamine produce different patterns of subjective and cardiovascular effects. Pharm Biochem Behav. 2005;82:90–97
  9. Hendrickson RG, Spivak LS. Methamphetamine. Emerg Med Rep. 2006;27:1–15
  10. Kashani J, Ruha A. Methamphetamine toxicity secondary to intravaginal body stuffing. Clin Toxicol. 2004;42:987–989
  11. Hendrickson RG, Horowitz , Norton R, et al. “Parachuting” meth: a novel delivery method for methamphetamine use and delayed-onset toxicity from “body stuffing.”. Clin Toxicol. 2006;44:379–382
  12. Suchard JR. Recovery from severe hyperthermia (45C) and rhabdomyolysis induced by methamphetamine body stuffing. West J Emerg Med. 2007;8:93–95
  13. Takekawa K, Ohmori T, Kido A, et al. Methamphetamine body packer: acute poisoning death due to massive leaking of methamphetamine. J Forensic Sci. 2007;52:1219–1222
  14. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration. Methamphetamine price/purity analysis of stride data. http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/meth_prices_purity.htmlAccessed February 10, 2009
  15. Report to the governor, Governor's Methamphetamine Task Force, Criminal Justice Commission, State of Oregon, December 2007. http://www.oregondec.org/GMTF-Report-2007.pdfAccessed February 10, 2009
  16. Hoffman RS. Understanding the limitations of retrospective analysis of poison center data. Clin Toxicol. 2007;45:943–945
  17. National Drug Intelligence Center, United States Department of Justice. Methamphetamine drug threat assessment. Document ID: 2005-Q0317-009. http://www.usdoj.govMarch 2005;Accessed September 3, 2009
  18. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of Applied Studies Drug and Alcohol Services Information System (DASIS) 2006. http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/dasis.htm#DASISinfoAccessed February 1, 2009
  19. Watson CJ, Thompson HJ, Johnston PS. Body packing with amphetamines—an indication for surgery. J R Soc Med. 1991;84:311–312

 Please see page 191 for the Editor's Capsule Summary of this article.

 Provide feedback on this article at the journal's Web site, www.annemergmed.com.

 Supervising editor: E. Martin Caravati, MD, MPH

 Author contributions: PLW and RGH designed the study, conducted data collection and analysis, and drafted the article. PLW and NJM conducted statistical analysis. PLW, NJM, and RGH conducted other analyses and edited the article. PLW was responsible for charts and graphs. PLW, NJM, and RGH take responsibility for the paper as a whole.

 Funding and support: By Annals policy, all authors are required to disclose any and all commercial, financial, and other relationships in any way related to the subject of this article that might create any potential conflict of interest. The authors have stated that no such relationships exist. See the Manuscript Submission Agreement in this issue for examples of specific conflicts covered by this statement.

 Publication date: Available online October 10, 2009.

PII: S0196-0644(09)01430-9

doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2009.08.005

Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 55, Issue 2 , Pages 190-197 , February 2010

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