Cholestatic hepatitis as a possible new side-effect of oxycodone: a case report.
BACKGROUND
Oxycodone is a widely-used semisynthetic opioid analgesic that has been used for over eighty years. Oxycodone is known to cause side effects such as nausea, pruritus, dizziness, constipation and somnolence. As far as we are aware cholestatic hepatitis as a result of oxycodone use has not been reported so far in the world literature.


METHODS
A 34-year-old male presented with cholestatic jaundice and severe pruritus after receiving oxycodone for analgesia post-T11 vertebrectomy. Extensive laboratory investigations and imaging studies did not reveal any other obvious cause for his jaundice and a liver biopsy confirmed canalicular cholestatis suggestive of drug-induced hepatotoxicity. The patient's symptoms and transaminases normalised on withdrawal of oxycodone confirming that oxycodone was the probable cause of the patient's hepatotoxicity.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that cholestatic hepatitis is possibly a rare side effect of oxycodone use. Physicians should be aware of the possibility of this potentially serious picture of drug-induced hepatotoxicity.
Ho
Vincent
V
School of Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns Base Hospital, Cairns, Queensland, Australia. vincent_ho@health.qld.gov.au
Stewart
Maxwell
M
Boyd
Peter
P