Effects on biliary tract pressure in humans of intravenous ketorolac tromethamine compared with morphine and placebo.

This study compared the effect of ketorolac tromethamine with that of morphine and placebo on biliary tract pressure. Intraoperatively, 31 anesthetized patients received either ketorolac (30 mg IV, n = 16) or morphine (5 mg IV, n = 15) after a cholecystectomy or gallstone removal. Intrabiliary tract pressure was measured 5 min after dosing. Postoperatively, 11 patients who had undergone biliary tract surgery received 10 mg of ketorolac or placebo, according to a randomized crossover design on 2 consecutive days. Intraoperatively, the biliary tract pressure did not change significantly from baseline after ketorolac administration. In the morphine group, there was significant increase in pressure over baseline. Postoperatively, there was no significant difference between ketorolac and placebo. We conclude that ketorolac has little or no effect on biliary tract dynamics; therefore, ketorolac may be a logical choice for analgesia in those situations in which spasm of the biliary tract is undesirable.