Elsevier

Mayo Clinic Proceedings

Volume 87, Issue 11, November 2012, Pages 1089-1097
Mayo Clinic Proceedings

Original article
A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial of Continuous Intravenous Ketorolac vs Placebo for Adjuvant Pain Control After Renal Surgery

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2012.07.018Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a novel, continuous intravenous infusion of ketorolac, a powerful nonopioid analgesic, for postoperative pain control.

Patients and Methods

A prospective, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of a continuous infusion of ketorolac tromethamine in 1 L of normal saline vs placebo was performed in 135 patients aged 18 to 75 years after laparoscopic donor nephrectomy or percutaneous nephrolithotomy completed from October 7, 2008, through July 21, 2010. Primary study end points were the 24-hour differences in visual analog pain scores and total narcotic consumption, whereas secondary end points were differences in urine output, serum creatinine level, and hemoglobin level.

Results

The study was stopped after randomization of 135 patients (68 in the ketorolac group and 67 in the placebo group) when interim analysis indicated that the difference in mean pain scores between the 2 groups (difference, 0.6) was smaller than the 1-point threshold set forth in the power calculations. No statistically significant change was noted in hemoglobin levels from preoperative to postoperative values (P=.13) or in postoperative serum creatinine levels (P=.13).

Conclusion

Although continuous infusion of ketorolac produced only a modest decrease in the use of narcotics, it appears to offer a safe therapeutic option for nonnarcotic pain control.

Trial Registration

clinicaltrials.gov Identifiers: NCT00765128 and NCT00765232

Section snippets

Patients

After approval from the Mayo Clinic Institutional Review Board, we conducted a prospective, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of ketorolac vs placebo for postoperative pain control in LDN and PNL patients treated at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, from October 7, 2008, through July 21, 2010. Men and women aged 18 to 75 years who were undergoing LDN or PNL were candidates for participation. Exclusion criteria included pregnancy, inability to provide informed

Results

We prospectively identified a total of 218 patients who were scheduled to undergo either LDN or PNL at our hospital. Twenty-seven patients were not eligible because of exclusion criteria, 51 declined consent, and 4 did not order the study in time, leaving a total of 135 patients who were randomized to ketorolac (n=68) or placebo (n=67) (Figure 2). Seven patients who consented did not complete the study because the planned procedure was not performed (6 patients) or because ketorolac was given

Discussion

A continuous infusion of ketorolac offered a safe therapeutic option for pain management after LDN or PNL. At the interim analysis, the mean pain score on the VAS for the ketorolac group was 0.6 point lower than that of the placebo group. Because this difference was smaller than the minimum criterion set forth in the power calculations in the study protocol, the study was suspended on the basis of the predetermined stopping criteria. However, we still believe that our report of these findings

Conclusion

Ketorolac appears to offer a safe therapeutic option for patients in the acute postoperative period after LDN or PNL, with no differences seen in serum creatinine level or changes in hemoglobin level between groups. Although the decreased use of narcotics was only modest, to our knowledge, this study is the first randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to highlight the novel approach of providing a continuous steady state of ketorolac. As such, it represents the highest level of

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    Grant Support: This project was funded by a CR5 Mayo Clinic grant.

    Potential Competing Interests: Dr Castle is a speaker for Intuitive Surgical Inc. Dr Humphreys has a consulting agreement with Boston Scientific Corp, Lumenis Inc, and Medafor Inc. Mr Hentz has received grant support for research activity from Allergan Inc, Anodyne Therapy LLC, Astellas Pharma US Inc, Dynatherm Medical Inc, Genentech Inc, InKline Pharmaceuticals Inc, Medtronic Inc, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc.

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