United States: A middle-aged man was hospitalized at a hotel in the neighborhoods of Portland, Ore., where he was on a business trip when he fell into a coma.
More about the news
According to US News reports, he had borrowed fentanyl for the first time just a few days ago, and it was just an inch away from killing him by actually damaging his brain.
The patient, who inhaled fentanyl, had severe inflammation of the white matter in large sections of the brain, which Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) doctors concluded.
White matter functions as the network of neural highways within the brain that distributes information from various brain parts to the spinal cord and vice versa.
After that, he lost consciousness and approached imminent death or the condition of brain damage that causes permanent loss of function, known as ceasing life or leaving his brain dead, respectively.
The study findings were published in BMJ Case Reports on April 29.
This is the first such case in history
The patient is the first observed one in the literature to experience such a phenomenon related to fentanyl. However, previous occurrences, including ones related to heroin, are mentioned by the scientists, as US News reported.
Dr. Chris Eden, the lead researcher and a second-year internal medicine resident at the OHSU School of Medicine, said, “This is a case of a middle-class man, in his late 40s, with kids, who used fentanyl for the first time,” and, “It demonstrates that fentanyl can affect everyone in our society.”
Fentanyl is cheap, obtainable even in the absence of prescriptions, and 50 times more powerful than heroin, according to what Eden stressed. Illicit drug dealers frequently cut fentanyl mixed with other substances like heroin; many times, the users are not aware of it.
Eden said, “We know very well the classic opiate side effects: respiratory depression, loss of consciousness, disorientation,” and “But we don’t classically think of it causing possibly irreversible brain damage and affecting the brain, as it did in this case.”
The MRI scans report revealed inflammation in the man’s brain, whereas a drug test revealed fentanyl in his system.
More about the present condition of the victim
Although he recovered from the coma, the guy was still suffering from an inability to talk properly and was still having problems with brain function besides the problems with memory, as US News reported.
Doctors ruled out some possible reasons for outside brain damage, stroke, carbon monoxide poisoning, and diabetes, and ultimately, fentanyl was given out.
He was in the hospital for 26 days in the end and was then moved to a skilled nursing facility for further rehabilitation that focused on recovering his speaking and brain capabilities.
He’s at home now with his family in the Seattle area, and he is big again, as usual. Moreover, he has no memory of the incident, as the doctors said,