Promising Treatment for Cocaine

A treatment for cocaine’s effects on the human cardiovascular system has been discovered, according to a report in the August 14 Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center led by Wanpen Vongpatanasin, MD, examined results from 22 healthy adults who reported to have never used cocaine. The researchers administered a small medically approved dose of cocaine nose drops to the subjects, which doubled their sympathetic nerve activity, resulting in increased heart rate, blood pressure, and vascular resistance. Subjects were then either treated with dexmedetomidine, a drug currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for anesthetic purposes, or intravenous saline as a placebo.

The researchers found that subjects treated with dexmedetomidine experienced a return to baseline for heart rate, blood pressure, and vascular resistance. Researchers said further studies are needed to determine whether this treatment would be effective in acute cocaine overdose.

Emergency Medicine News:Volume 29(12)December 2007p 4

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