Irreversible Brain Damage: New Threat From Fentanyl Inhalation

Toxic leukoencephalopathy has been seen with heroin inhalation, but this is the first reported fentanyl case.
Inhaling the synthetic opioid fentanyl may cause potentially irreversible brain damage (toxic leukoencephalopathy), warn doctors in the journal BMJ Case Reports, after treating a middle-aged man found unresponsive in his hotel room after snorting the drug.

Leukoencephalopathy refers to inflammation and damage to the brain’s white matter—the network of nerve fibers that enable the exchange of information and communication between different areas of the brain’s grey matter.