UC Davis study finds Narcan improves survival rates of overdose patients in cardiac arrest
SACRAMENTO — A study into Narcan could shape how first responders treat overdose patients.
First responders across America, and in Northern California, continue to deal with a deluge of opioid overdose cases. How to treat some of them is still evolving.
"Opiate overdose usually leads to a problem with your breathing, so you don't breathe as well," Dr. David Dillon with UC Davis Health said. "And if you can catch it where your heart is still beating but you're not breathing, Narcan is the antidote."
What if your heart isn't beating, which is also known as cardiac arrest?
"Right now, not all of those patients are getting Narcan because we don't know if it works," Dillon said. "If your heart's not beating, we don't, right now, know how Narcan works."
So a group at UC Davis Health including Dr. Dillon looked to answer that. They studied nine years' worth of data, including over 8,000 cases in Northern California.
"Excitingly, we found that Narcan actually looks like it helps," Dillon said. "Not only was it associated with improved rates of people's hearts starting, but it was also associated with improved rates of people surviving a hospital discharge."
It's something that could shape treatment on the frontlines of the opioid epidemic.
"I think the results of this study could very much be applicable to what first responders do every single day when they go out on an ambulance," Dillon said.
Dr. Dillon said that they already have clinical trials in the works, which is something that could lead to a larger, national trial.