NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Findings from a small study suggest that the anticholinergic agent glycopyrrolate is no better than placebo at relieving the pain of symptomatic cholelithiasis.
By blocking vagal stimulation of the gallbladder, glycopyrrolate, in theory, provides pain relief by stopping the organ from contracting against obstructing gallstones.
Although glycopyrrolate has become a popular outpatient treatment for pain from suspected cholelithiasis, there has been no clinical evidence to support its use, lead author Dr. Jared L. Antevil and colleagues, from the Naval Medical Center San Diego in California, note.
To investigate the benefits of this drug, Dr. Antevil’s team assessed the outcomes of 38 patients who were randomized to intravenous glycopyrrolate or placebo (saline) upon presentation to the ER with pain from suspected biliary colic. Initially, 54 patients were sought for recruitment, but the study was terminated before this goal was reached due to enrollment issues.
The researchers’ findings appear in the Annals of Emergency Medicine for February.
The patients in each group were found to have similar demographic and baseline characteristics, the authors note. Based on visual analog scores, no significant difference in pain relief was seen between the groups.
“Although limited by small size and convenience sampling, these results fail to demonstrate any improvement in pain of suspected biliary tract origin with administration of glycopyrrolate,” the researchers state. Still, further studies are needed to definitively show that the drug has no value for this indication, they add.
Source: Ann Emerg Med 2005;45:172-176. [ Google search on this article ]
MeSH Headings:CholelithiasisCopyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
