A Cross-Sectional Observational Study on Retained Drug Needle Fragments in People Who Use Intravenous Drugs
The Prevalence and Predisposing Factors to Retained Drug Needle Fragments in People Who Inject Drugs: a Protocol for a Cross-sectional Observational Study
About This Trial
In addition to the well-known toxicological harms of intravenous drug (IVD) use, there can also be local tissue complications, including infections, venous sclerosis, tissue necrosis, and drug needle fragment retentions. Drug needle fragments in subcutaneous tissue may cause local symptoms (usually pain and infections), but they have also been identified as causing emboli to organs. The literature has described numerous case reports of people who inject drugs (PWIDs) and have retained needle fragments. The prevalence of the condition is not known, and the researchers therefore aim to perform the first cross-sectional study of PWIDs to estimate how common needle fragment retentions are and what their risk factors are in this population.
Who May Be Eligible (Plain English)
Original Eligibility Criteria
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Treatments Being Tested
Low-dose X-ray of subcutaneous tissues
To identify needle fragment retentions, the radiologic imaging of all volunteers will be performed with X-ray using radiation doses as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) and one projection per anatomic site.