Patients who overdose on opioids and have a pulse are often given naloxone (Narcan) by first responders, a common life-saving measure. However, emergency medical service (EMS) agencies have different protocols for administering , so there is little evidence to support its use in patients without a pulse who experienced opioid-associated out of hospital (OHCA). A recent study by UC Davis Health researchers set out to assess the effects of giving naloxone administration by paramedics to patients with OHCA.
The study, published in , concluded there was an association between naloxone administration, and both return of spontaneous circulation and survival to hospital discharge. "The incidence of drug-related cardiac arrests has skyrocketed in the past two decades, and there is an urgent need for evidence to guide possible naloxone use in this circumstance," said David Dillon, assistant professor of Emergency Medicine and one of the study's authors. What is naloxone? Naloxone is a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose.
It is an antagonist—meaning it attaches to opioid receptors and reverses and blocks the effects of other opioids. Naloxone can quickly restore normal breathing to a person whose breathing has slowed or stopped because of an opioid overdose. Researchers hypothesize that naloxone may also help patients who are experiencing opioid-related cardiac arrest.
Naloxone has no effect on someone who does not have opioids in their system, nor does it harm them, an.