Narcotic anesthetic drugs: their effect on biliary dynamics.

Biliary tract resistance was measured in 142 patients during cholecystectomy with the use of narcotic or nonnarcotic anesthesia techniques. If fentanyl citrate (narcotic) was used, there was no difference in the pressures measured in normal ducts between these cases and those patients receiving nonnarcotic anesthesia. When morphine sulfate was administered, the resistance exceeded normal values in five of seven patients with normal ducts.