Treatment of Opioid Overdose with Naloxone: A discussion on the implementation of intranasal therapy in Brazil

Abstract

The increasing use and dependence on opioids has resulted in numerous events with serious psychosocial disorders associated with unpredictable behavioral situations, in addition to morbidity and mortality due to overdose. Heroin leads the ranking of overdoses due to its high addiction power. The use of antidotes during the care of overdose patients minimizes mortality and improves survival, thereby reducing the damage caused. The objective of this study is to correlate the observed cases and to glimpse the efficacy in the treatment with injectable naloxone versus intranasal spray, its efficacy, practicality, and punctuality in the prognosis. This is a systematic and explanatory study based on scientific articles that are in line with the descriptors controlled by indexing sites and, from the data systematically collected, according to the method described above, the quality of the therapy that demonstrated a promising way to basic life support, when suggested by the lay population or nonmedical community. Continuity of studies is recommended in order to mediate the implementation of the intranasal spray method in Brazil.