Intravenous paracetamol versus ketorolac for pain attenuation in patients with renal colic; a randomized, single blind and controlled clinical trial

Introduction: Pain control is an essential care for patients with renal colic in emergency wards. Objectives: This study aimed to compare the analgesic efficacy of intravenous (IV) paracetamol (PC) versus ketorolac (KET) for patients with renal colic. Patients and Methods: In a randomized controlled clinical trial, 110 patients with renal colic referred to the emergency department of Kosar hospital, Semnan between October 2015 and June 2016 were selected. Eighty-eight patients were divided into two groups (44 patients in each group) of PC (1 g/IV) and KET (30 mg/IV). One patient in each group was excluded during the study. Vital signs and pain severity (measured by visual analogue scale [VAS]) of all patients were recorded at admission time 0, 20, 40 and 60 minutes after treatment. Then, the results were compared in two groups. Results: The results showed that at the time of 0, 20, 40 and 60 minutes after the administration of the PC and KET drugs, no significant difference was seen in severity of pain based on VAS score between the two groups (P<0.05). Moreover, there were no significant differences in the vital signs of two groups (P<0.05). No adverse effects were reported in each group. Conclusion: In conclusion, the use of IV-PC and KET in patients with renal colic had similar pain relieving effects without any adverse effects.