Relief by naloxone of morphine-induced spasm of the sphincter of Oddi in apost-cholecystectomy patient

Spasm of the sphincter of Oddi is a well-recognized effect of the narcotic class of drugs. Although it is usually clinically silent, such spasm occasi onally causes debilitating pain that may be mistaken for more serious disor ders. We present the case of a patient who had undergone cholecystectomy pr eviously, but in whom morphine given in the Emergency Department precipitat ed pain consistent with biliary colic; the pain resolved promptly after adm inistration of naloxone. This entity may considered in the differential dia gnosis of acute onset of colicky abdominal pain in the patient given narcot ics. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc.