%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 }