DILAUDID AND MORPHINE EFFECTS ON BASAL METABOLISM AND OTHER BODY FUNCTIONS

Abstract

Dilaudid (dihydromorphinone hydrochloride), a new morphine derivative,¹ was first introduced into this country from Germany in 1932 by Alvarez.² Eddy³ has reviewed the foreign literature and reported preliminary experimental studies of the toxicity and action of this drug in animals. Paine, Carlson and Wangensteen⁴ used dilaudid in the treatment of nineteen patients and considered it effective in controlling pain but not superior to morphine in decreasing the incidence of postoperative distention, nausea and vomiting. Diehl,⁵ in his study on the medicinal treatment of the common cold, found a combination of dilaudid and papaverine as efficient as the codeine-papaverine preparation which he recommends but more likely to produce undesirable side-effects. The chief advantages claimed for dilaudid over morphine are that its repeated use has less tendency to produce habit formation and that there are fewer unfavorable side-effects, such as nausea, constipation and euphoria.⁶ Eddy,³