Drug Interactions between Choletec and morphine / naltrexone

CONTRAINDICATED: Naltrexone can antagonize the effects of opioids via competitive inhibition of opioid receptors. Patients receiving naltrexone may not benefit from opioid-containing medications such as cough and cold products, antidiarrheal preparations, and narcotic analgesics. Likewise, patients dependent on opioids may experience withdrawal symptoms when given naltrexone. Following use of naltrexone, patients may have increased sensitivity to opioids.

**Note: This warning does not apply to opioid products that are specifically formulated with naltrexone to deter abuse via snorting or intravenous injection when crushed.**

MANAGEMENT: The use of naltrexone is considered contraindicated in patients receiving opioids or dependent on opioids, including those maintained on opiate agonists (e.g., methadone) or partial agonists (e.g., buprenorphine). Naltrexone should also not be given to patients in acute opioid withdrawal. In an urgent situation when analgesia may be required in a patient who has received full blocking doses of naltrexone, consideration should be given to regional analgesia, conscious sedation with a benzodiazepine, use of non-opioid analgesics, or general anesthesia. If opioid analgesia is required, the amount of opioid needed may be greater than usual, and the resulting respiratory depression may be deeper and more prolonged. A rapidly-acting opioid analgesic that minimizes the duration of respiratory depression is preferred. Clinicians should be aware that reversal of full naltrexone blockade by administration of large doses of opiates can cause histamine release. Therefore, patients may experience non-opioid receptor-mediated effects such as facial swelling, itching, generalized erythema, and bronchoconstriction. Irrespective of the drug chosen to reverse naltrexone blockade, the patient should be monitored closely by appropriately trained personnel in a setting equipped and staffed for cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

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MONITOR: Prior administration of opioids may delay transit of Technetium Tc 99m mebrofenin due to opioid-induced contraction of the distal common bile duct, which may result in nonvisualization. In one study, a group of investigators reviewed the records of 198 emergency department patients who underwent nuclear hepatobiliary imaging, after excluding those with evidence for pathologic common bile duct (CBD) obstruction. Delayed CBD visualization occurred in 28.6% of subjects who had received opioids (n=56) and 12.0% of subjects who had not received opioids, while delayed imaging was performed in 77.8% and 53.5%, respectively. The relative risk of delayed CBD visualization was 1.46 for meperidine, 4.18 for morphine, and 2.38 for any opioid. Nonetheless, low-dose intravenous morphine has been used during cholescintigraphy to increase biliary pressure, thereby allowing for visualization of gallbladder when there is failure to visualize 60 minutes or more after Technetium Tc 99m mebrofenin injection. Compared to standard cholescintigraphy, morphine-augmented cholescintigraphy has been shown to reduce imaging time and the number of false-positive results.

MANAGEMENT: Nonvisualization may occur in patients who have been receiving opioids prior to cholescintigraphy.

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