ACAAM Fellow Lightning Round Presentations-2025 ACAAM Fellow Lightning Round Presentations

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The ACAM 2025 Lightning Round featured 19 brief fellow presentations on addiction medicine research, clinical cases, and quality improvement projects. Opening remarks highlighted the session format: no live Q&A, but presenters would share contact information in chat.<br /><br />Topics were wide-ranging and clinically practical. Several talks focused on fentanyl and overdose care, including a pilot study showing 100% agreement between a point-of-care fentanyl test and standard send-out testing, and a review of naloxone use emphasizing titration, repeat boluses, and naloxone infusions for recurrent respiratory depression. Other presentations addressed methadone safety and transitions, including methadone-associated QTc prolongation, rapid methadone titration protocols in the fentanyl era, and difficult conversions from methadone to morphine equivalents when methadone must be stopped.<br /><br />Multiple cases explored complex withdrawal and substance-related syndromes: xylazine (“tranq”) withdrawal requiring clonidine and dexmedetomidine, kratom dependence and withdrawal, and alcohol withdrawal from nontraditional alcohol sources such as mouthwash and vanilla extract. One notable case involved precipitated thyroid storm in an incarcerated patient whose symptoms were initially dismissed as withdrawal, underscoring the danger of diagnostic overshadowing.<br /><br />Other talks emphasized harm reduction and systems change, including a syringe prescribing tool to improve safe injection access, school-treatment integration for adolescents with substance use disorders, and inpatient policy development around substance use in the hospital. There were also projects on using GLP-1 agonists to reduce alcohol relapse, transferring stable OUD patients from MAT clinics to primary care, and initiating buprenorphine with injectable formulations at very low withdrawal scores.<br /><br />Overall, the session highlighted innovative, patient-centered approaches to addiction treatment across emergency, inpatient, outpatient, pediatric, and correctional settings.

Keywords

addiction medicine

fentanyl

overdose care

naloxone

methadone safety

QTc prolongation

xylazine withdrawal

kratom dependence

alcohol withdrawal

harm reduction

syringe prescribing

buprenorphine initiation

GLP-1 agonists

diagnostic overshadowing

correctional health