Objective: Pain is usually one of the most common symptoms among all traumatic injuries. One of the drugs that has recently entered the Iranian prehospital emergency system is ketorolac.
Ketorolac is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that inhibits prostaglandin synthesis by inhibiting cyclooxygenase activity and reduces pain and inflammation. It can be considered as the strongest analgesic drug in this category. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of ketorolac in pain management of traumatic injuries in a prehospital setting.Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of a treatment method in the pain management of traumatic injuries in the prehospital environment of Lorestan province in Iran. We included ۱۳۴ injured patients from road emergency bases of Lorestan province. In order to control the pain of these injured patients, ۳۰ mg of ketorolac was injected slowly intravenously in one minute. Pain was measured in the time interval of zero minutes (before injection), ۱۵ minutes, ۳۰ minutes, and ۴۵ minutes by visual acuity scale (VAS). The analysis of the obtained data was performed by SPSS software version ۲۳.Results: The mean age of participants was ۳۷.۴۲±۲۳.۶. There were ۴۷ female injuries (۳۵.۱%) and ۸۷ male injuries (۶۴.۹%). In terms of pain intensity, ۴۹ patients (۳۶.۶%) had moderate pain (VAS = ۴-۶) and ۸۵ patients (۶۳.۴%) had severe pain (VAS = ۷-۱۰). The average of pain relief in the injured group with severe and moderate pain ۱۵ minutes after the injection was ۰.۴۷۱ and ۰.۸۷۸ (P = ۰.۰۰۱), respectively. In addition, the mean of pain relief in the injured group with severe and moderate pain ۳۰ minutes after the injection was ۱.۱۲۴ and ۱.۷۹۶, respectively (P = ۰.۰۰۱). Pain reduction in the group of severely injured patients with moderate pain in the first ۳۰ minutes was statistically significant.Conclusion: Findings revealed that ketorolac is a suitable drug in pain management for trauma patients with moderate and severe pain in trauma patients. On the other hand, due to the peak effect (more than ۳۰ minutes), it is not an effective drug for trauma patients with severe pain in a short period transferred to the prehospital environment.
