Naloxone for Opioid Associated Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest
University of California, San Francisco
Summary
The investigator's long-term goal is to conduct Naloxone for Opioid Associated out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (NOPACA), a randomized, double blind, controlled trial to determine the efficacy of naloxone vs. placebo in Opioid Associated out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest. The investigative team plan to randomize patients in OHCA to early naloxone administration vs. placebo after initial resuscitation and measure ROSC and survival. Challenges to designing NOPACA include uncertainty regarding: 1) the available pool of participants and number of EMS agencies needed to meet enrollment targets; 2) acceptability among patients, EMS and Emergency Medicine provider stakeholders, and 3) estimates of the study outcomes needed for sample size estimates. Toward obtaining the necessary information to design NOPACA, the investigators propose a pilot RCT of participants at high risk for OA-OHCA to verify a reasonable recruitment rate; treatment fidelity and acceptability; and adequate retention and measurement of outcomes at follow up. The investigators propose incorporating hypothesis testing of the feasibility outcomes to determine progression to a definitive trial.
Description
Rationale: Opioid associated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OA-OHCA) is defined as cardiac arrest precipitated by the use of opioids, with or without co-intoxicants and comorbidities. In OA-OHCA, hypoxia is thought reduce cardiac output, resulting in hypotension, bradycardia, and pulseless electric activity (PEA) or asystole. This pathophysiology is distinct from sudden cardiac death and other arrest etiologies and may benefit from targeted treatments, including naloxone. Naloxone is a competitive mu opioid-receptor antagonist that reverses the central nervous system, respiratory, and circula…