Prevention of postoperative intestinal intussusception by prophylactic morphine administration in dogs used for organ transplantation research.

In this report 149 kidney transplants were performed as part of experiments on renal perfusion preservation, and the effect of morphine treatment on the incidence of postoperative intussusception was concurrently evaluated. Intestinal intussusception developed in 17% (14 of 83 dogs transplanted) of untreated dogs after transplantation. Intraoperative intravenous administration of morphine (0.5 mg/kg) resulted in a reduction in the rate of intussusception to 3.3% (2 of 61 dogs transplanted). Postoperative administration of morphine was ineffective in reducing the incidence of intussusception. The results indicate that intraoperative administration of morphine is effective in preventing postoperative intussusception in dogs used for experimental transplantation and may reduce animal losses and research costs in experimental surgical laboratories.