The Ulster medical journal
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
A comparison of the effect of intramuscular diclofenac, ketorolac or piroxicam on postoperative pain following laparoscopy.
Sixty patients presenting for in-patient gynaecological laparoscopic surgery were randomly allocated to receive either diclofenac 75 mg (n = 20), ketorolac 30 mg (n = 20) or piroxicam 20 mg (n = 20) as an intra-muscular injection immediately after induction of anaesthesia. Postoperative visual analogue scores over the first 24 hours, using a 10 cm scale, ranged from 3.2-0.5 in the diclofenac group, 2.7-0.85 in the ketorolac group and 2.8-0.5 in the piroxicam group. The scores did not differ significantly between the three groups (p > 0.05). ⋯ There were no reports of increased bleeding, bronchoconstriction, bleeding from the upper gastrointestinal tract, renal impairment or pain from the intra-muscular injection site in any of the groups. The administration of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug to patients presenting for laparoscopic surgery reduces postoperative pain. There were no obvious differences between the agents used.