Authors
Abstract
Background: Post-operative pain control is an important issue in orthopaedics. Narcotics do not properly control pain and may have many complications. The non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can, however, play an important role in postoperative pain management. This study evaluates the effect of intra-articular Ketorolac injection on pain control after knee arthroscopy.
Methods: In a randomized double blind clinical trial study, 60 age and sex-matched patients of around 45 years of age were divided into two groups of 30. Tirthy mg of intra-articular ketorolac in one group and 30 millimeters of saline in the control group were injected at the end of arthroscopic knee surgery. The postoperative pain control and need for other pain medications were compared between the two groups.
Results: In the Ketorolac group the pain at 4 hours and 8 hours after surgery was significantly lower than the control group. At 12, and 24 hours after surgery, no significant difference in severity of pain was observed. The need for the use of opioid drugs was not significantly different between the two groups. The Sleep disturbance of 42.8% in the Ketorolac and 57.1% in the saline group was not significantly different.
Conclusions: Intra-articular ketorolac is effective in pain reduction only in the first few hours after knee arthroscopy, and does not reduce the need for other analgesics.
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