When Canadian midfielder Ismaël Koné was taken off the sector on a stretcher during Canada’s World Cup match against Qatar on Thursday, photos showed him inhaling from a small green device, prompting many fans to wonder what it was.
Team Canada officials confirmed the inhaler to be Penthrox, also often called methoxyflurane, a fast-acting, non-opioid pain medication that’s self-administered for short-term pain relief. It is usually often called the “green whistle.”
One in all the drug’s key features is that it’s administered by the patient directly: if a patient can’t hold the device themselves, the drug can’t be used, said Dr. Paul Winston, a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation based in British Columbia.
“The good thing about Penthrox is you don’t overdo it, right? So if the person finally ends up saying, ‘Hey, I’m OK,’ they’ll stop puffing, or if the pain isn’t controlled, then they’ve time to manage the heavier medications that they could have to do,” Winston said.
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Relief starts to kick in after six to 12 breaths and may last as long as an hour, requiring careful monitoring in a clinical setting, the doctor said.
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“It’s a bit like laughing gas. So people actually laugh hysterically once they’re on it and it takes away their pain and it acts as a cross between an anesthetic and a painkiller,” said Winston. “It doesn’t knock you out, nevertheless it type of takes you out of your situation enough to place the pain aside.”
Penthrox was first developed as a general anesthetic in america within the Nineteen Sixties and approved by Health Canada in 2022. It has been approved in Australia and Recent Zealand for the reason that Seventies.
Winston said people Down Under “use it on a regular basis when there’s beach accidents, trauma in the sector.”
He said the drug is not any longer approved in america because an older version was pulled from the market there attributable to toxicity concerns. As well, Penthrox can’t be utilized in patients with liver or kidney issues, he said.
Koné has since undergone surgery for his broken leg and can miss the rest of the tournament.
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