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Ketamine abuse may cause a condition that mimics bile duct disease according to surgeons treating ketamine abusers at the Prince of Wales Hospital.
In a Hong Kong Medical Journal report published in advance on the journal’s website due to the public health significance of the paper’s findings, three cases where young adults using ketamine developed abdominal pain, dilated bile ducts and abnormal liver function are described.
All the patients were young adults—two men and a woman—who had been using ketamine for some time. In each case, when they stopped taking ketamine the condition was reversed and their liver function returned to normal. When one patient began abusing ketamine again, however, and the liver problems returned.
"Ketamine is absolutely not a 'safe' drug for abuse." write the authors, Professor Paul Lai and colleagues, in their report 'Dilated common bile ducts mimicking choledochal cysts in ketamine abusers'.
"It is not only associated with cystitis and urinary bladder dysfunction, but is also associated with liver function impairment and biliary tree dilatation. Although the effects seem to be reversible on cessation of abuse, clinicians should also be mindful about the possible long-term consequences for the hepatobiliary system.'
"Furthermore, the general public needs to be made aware of this particular harmful side-effect of ketamine abuse."
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