title: Cholescintigraphy in acute cholecystitis: use of intravenous morphine.
abstract: Conventional cholescintigraphy (60 patients) and a modified protocol (59 patients) were compared in 74 females and 45 males with acute cholecystitis. In the modified protocol, intravenous morphine (0.04 mg/kg) was administered whenever the gallbladder was not seen 40 minutes after injection of Tc-99m-pyridoxylideneglutamate (36/59). Accuracy was 98% with morphine, compared with 88% for the conventional protocol; specificity improved from 83% to 100% with no loss of sensitivity (96% in both groups). Low doses of morphine are well tolerated and can result in a highly accurate diagnosis of acute cholecystitis without the need for delayed imaging.
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001652:Bile Ducts / Q000187:drug effects; D002764:Cholecystitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D005704:Gallbladder / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D008722:Methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D009020:Morphine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging
chemical_list: D009020:Morphine