Intravenous morphine plus ibuprofen or ketorolac versus intravenous morphine alone in reducing renal colic pain intensity in emergency department: A randomized, double-blind clinical trial

OBJECTIVES:

This study aimed to compare the efficacy of intravenous (IV) morphine plus ibuprofen or ketorolac versus IV morphine alone in controlling renal colic pain in the emergency department.

METHODS:

This double-blind, randomized clinical trial was conducted during November 2018 and March 2019 in Iran. Patients aged 18–65 years with acute renal colic and numerical rating scale (NRS) score of higher than 6 of 10 were enrolled to the study. They were randomly assigned to I, K, and control groups receiving 5 mg morphine with 800 mg ibuprofen (n = 65), 5 mg morphine with 30 mg ketorolac (n = 65), or only 5 mg morphine (n = 65) intravenously, respectively. NRS was evaluated 0, 15, 30, 60, and 120 min after injection.

RESULTS:

A total of 195 participants took part in the study. The presence of stone in pelvis area was higher in I group (P = 0.027). The mean rescue analgesic dose was higher in the control group and lower in K group (P = 0.031). From the 15^th min, the NRS reduction in I and K group was higher than the control group (P < 0.001), but the difference between I and K group was not statistically significant in total (P = 1.0) or in the all follow-up time intervals (15^thP = 0.864, 30^thP = 0.493, 60^thP = 0.493, and 120^th min P = 1.0). The largest difference in pain reduction was observed in 120^th min and mean of NRS was 2.9 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.6–3.3), 2.9 (95% CI: 2.6–3.3) and 7.0 (95% CI: 6.7–7.4) in I, K and control group, respectively. The adverse effects showed in 18.5%, 20.0%, and 13.8% of I, K, and control group, respectively.

CONCLUSION:

IV ibuprofen plus morphine and IV ketorolac plus morphine had similar effects in reducing renal colic pain but were more effective than IV morphine alone.