Oxymorphone Metabolism
- Oxymorphone is metabolized to oxymorphone-3-glucuronide.
- It is also metabolized to noroxymorphone by demethylation by CYP3A4.
Oxymorphone has a half-life of 7 to 9 hours and can be detected in the urine for up to 3 days after ingestion.
Interpretation:
- For patients taking only oxymorphone, oxymorphone alone will be detected in the urine. Oxycodone should not be found in the urine of patients taking only oxymorphone.
- If oxycodone is detected, oxymorphone could be present as a metabolite rather than ingestion.
- Oxymorphone alone may be detected at low concentrations due to metabolism of oxycodone if it has been several days since ingestion because oxymorphone has a significantly longer half-life than oxycodone.
