Four patients who could not form new memories had been evaluated in a three-year span at one Boston-area clinic. In 2015, MRIs revealed inadequate blood flow to both hippocampi in the brains of those four patients. Three of the four patients tested positive for opioid use in an initial toxicology evaluation. The fourth patient was not tested, but had a history of heroin abuse.
After the cases were reported to Massachusetts Department of Public Health, neurologists, neuroradiologists and emergency physicians began searching for more of the rare amnesia cases across the state. Ten more were identified. In total, 13 of the 14 patients had a history substance abuse. The remaining patient tested positive for opioids and cocaine at the initial evaluation. Other substances reportedly used by some the patients include amphetamines and benzodiazepines. The average age of the patients was 35 years.
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These cases show there is still much to learn about how combining drugs with opioids can affect the brain.
“MRI of the head, toxicology screening, and neurologic consultation should be considered in all adults aged 18 years with sudden-onset amnesia, particularly in patients with altered consciousness. Advanced laboratory testing, including testing for synthetic opioids (e.g., fentanyl) and their analogues, as well as extraneous substances not assessed in these reported cases, might further clarify an association with substance use,” concluded the authors of the CDC report.
More articles on opioids:
Connecticut lawmakers: Dealers should be ‘criminally liable’ for fatal opioid overdoses
ERs taking steps to prescribe fewer opioids
DEA chemists work to detect new, deadlier varieties of opioids
