Effect of naloxone on deficits after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage

The opiate antagonist naloxone was suggested for the amelioration of cerebral ischemia after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) following the 1981 report of clinical improvement of ischemic deficits in 2 patients. The deficit in 1 patient was exacerbated by morphine, suggesting that analgesics acting on opiate receptors should be avoided after SAH, and this would include codeine phosphate and dihydrocodeine, both widely used for post-SAH headache. We studied 21 consecutive patients with aneurysmal SAH whose condition was worse than Grade 1 on the Hunt and Hess scale. A single observer graded them to avoid interobserver error, and they were also given a score on the Glasgow coma scale. Each patient was then given an intravenous injection of 0.9% saline as placebo or 0.4 mg (7 patients) or 2.0 mg (14 patients) of naloxone. Five minutes later, the same observer regraded the patient. After 30 minutes, a second injection of placebo or naloxone was given, and the patient was regraded a third time. Each patient received placebo in one injection and naloxone in the other, but the order was randomized and unknown to the observer. There was no beneficial effect of 0.4 mg of naloxone after aneurysmal SAH, and we did not find an elevated level of the endogenous opiate beta-endorphin in the cerebrospinal fluid in the majority (6 of 8 of the patients in whom it was assayed). Five of the patients given 2.0 mg of naloxone did improve transiently, and none deteriorated after the drug, suggesting that naloxone in a high dose may have a place in the management of some post-SAH deficits.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)