Opioid detoxification: from controlled clinical trial to clinical practice

Controlled clinical trials have high internal validity but suffer from difficulties in external validity. This study evaluates the generalizability of the results of a controlled clinical trial on rapid detoxification in the everyday clinical practice of two addiction treatment centers. The results show that rapid detoxification in everyday practice differs with regard to patient characteristics, enrolment, and completion rates (86.8% vs. 100%). However, abstinence rates after rapid detoxification in the controlled clinical trial (61.8%) were generalizable to everyday clinical practice (59.0%). Implementation factors that may have influenced the results, such as referral problems and treatment delivery, are discussed. (Am J Addict 2010;19:283-290)