Concomitant drug


Concomitant drugs are two or more drugs used or given at or almost at the same time. The term has two contextual uses: as used in medicine or as used in drug abuse.

Concomitant drugs in medicine

This designation is used when medicinal drugs are given either at the same time or almost at the same time. This is often the case in medicine.

First example

Chemotherapy for cancer applies as an example. The standard of care for the adjuvant treatment of stage III colon cancer is the FOLFOX chemotherapy protocol and respectively the FLOX chemotherapy protocol Leucovorin 5-Fluorouracil Oxaliplatin. Since these 3 medicinal drugs are "concomitant" to each other, such a constellation is called "concomitant drugs".

Second example

Contrast imaging in medicine is another example. These are imaging procedures in medicine that are performed after giving the patient an iodinated contrast medium. It is well known that such iodinated contrast media can lead to acute allergies in some patients. They may also lead to kidney damage. If the patient is receiving a "concomitant" medicinal drug, and the radiologist performing the imaging procedure is unaware of this, potentially harmful side-effects can occur and increase the risk of contrast medium-induced nephropathy. In general, radiologists carefully ask their patients about other medicinal drugs they are "concomitantly" taking before the imaging procedure. Often, they monitor the kidney function and the hydration status of their patients during the imaging procedure, especially whenever a concomitant drug is being used.

Concomitant drugs in drug abuse

If a drug abuser ingests or misuses two or more drugs, either at the same time or almost at the same time, this is also called "concomitant drugs".

Example

Whether concomitant drug abuse leads to an increased number of deaths was scientifically analysed in Sheffield, UK. The researchers wanted to find out whether concomitant drug abuse leads to an increased number of acute accidental opiate-related deaths. The authors showed that at least in the Sheffield area, intravenous administration of an opiate is the most consistent factor associated with drug abuse deaths. The co-administration of a concomitant drug of misuse appeared to be a feature rather than a risk factor per se in such deaths.