BACKGROUND: The authors present a case illustrating a mechanism leading directly to death which is not rare but has received little attention. CASE PRESENTATION: The case was evaluated by autopsy, investigation of morphine concentration in the blood, and clinical data. The heroin dose causing the 'overdose' death of a young man who had previously been treated a number of times for heroin addiction did not differ from his dose of the previous day taken in the accustomed circumstances. The accustomed dose taken in a strange environment caused fatal complications because the conditioned tolerance failed to operate. The concentration of morphine in the blood did not exceed the level measured during earlier treatment. CONCLUSION: These results are in line with the data in the literature indicating that morphine concentrations measured in cases of drug-related death do not differ substantially from those measured in cases where the outcome is not fatal. A knowledge of the conditioning mechanism can contribute to prevention of fatal cases of a similar type. The harm reduction approach places great stress on preventive intervention based on data related to drug-related death.
Description
«morphine concentrations measured in cases of drug-related death do not differ substantially from those measured in cases where the outcome is not fatal»
«situation-specific tolerance is capable of preventing the fatal consequence of a fatal-sized opiate overdose»
%0 Journal Article
%1 Gerevich2005crp
%A Gerevich, J
%A Bácskai, E
%A Farkas, L
%A Danics, Z
%D 2005
%J Harm Reduct J
%K addiction conditioned_place_preference overdose situation_specific_tolerance
%P 11-11
%R 10.1186/1477-7517-2-11
%T A case report: Pavlovian conditioning as a risk factor of heroin 'overdose' death
%U http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1196296
%V 2
%X BACKGROUND: The authors present a case illustrating a mechanism leading directly to death which is not rare but has received little attention. CASE PRESENTATION: The case was evaluated by autopsy, investigation of morphine concentration in the blood, and clinical data. The heroin dose causing the 'overdose' death of a young man who had previously been treated a number of times for heroin addiction did not differ from his dose of the previous day taken in the accustomed circumstances. The accustomed dose taken in a strange environment caused fatal complications because the conditioned tolerance failed to operate. The concentration of morphine in the blood did not exceed the level measured during earlier treatment. CONCLUSION: These results are in line with the data in the literature indicating that morphine concentrations measured in cases of drug-related death do not differ substantially from those measured in cases where the outcome is not fatal. A knowledge of the conditioning mechanism can contribute to prevention of fatal cases of a similar type. The harm reduction approach places great stress on preventive intervention based on data related to drug-related death.
@article{Gerevich2005crp,
abstract = {BACKGROUND: The authors present a case illustrating a mechanism leading directly to death which is not rare but has received little attention. CASE PRESENTATION: The case was evaluated by autopsy, investigation of morphine concentration in the blood, and clinical data. The heroin dose causing the 'overdose' death of a young man who had previously been treated a number of times for heroin addiction did not differ from his dose of the previous day taken in the accustomed circumstances. The accustomed dose taken in a strange environment caused fatal complications because the conditioned tolerance failed to operate. The concentration of morphine in the blood did not exceed the level measured during earlier treatment. CONCLUSION: These results are in line with the data in the literature indicating that morphine concentrations measured in cases of drug-related death do not differ substantially from those measured in cases where the outcome is not fatal. A knowledge of the conditioning mechanism can contribute to prevention of fatal cases of a similar type. The harm reduction approach places great stress on preventive intervention based on data related to drug-related death.},
added-at = {2009-02-02T10:51:41.000+0100},
author = {Gerevich, J and B{\'a}cskai, E and Farkas, L and Danics, Z},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/283c70c40de7715978c04b766b94310be/unhammer},
description = {«morphine concentrations measured in cases of drug-related death do not differ substantially from those measured in cases where the outcome is not fatal»
«situation-specific tolerance is capable of preventing the fatal consequence of a fatal-sized opiate overdose»},
doi = {10.1186/1477-7517-2-11},
interhash = {d92e26467f9c3029d3f282bc97582e0b},
intrahash = {83c70c40de7715978c04b766b94310be},
journal = {Harm Reduct J},
keywords = {addiction conditioned_place_preference overdose situation_specific_tolerance},
month = Jul,
pages = {11-11},
pmid = {16042795},
timestamp = {2009-02-02T10:51:41.000+0100},
title = {A case report: Pavlovian conditioning as a risk factor of heroin 'overdose' death},
url = {http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1196296},
volume = 2,
year = 2005
}