Comparison of postoperative analgesic efficacy of intraoperative single-dose intravenous administration of dexketoprofen trometamol and diclofenac sodium in laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to compare the effects of intravenous single-dose dexketoprofen trometamol and diclofenac sodium 30 minutes before the end of the surgery on relief of postoperative pain in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

DESIGN: A randomized fashion.

SETTING AND PATIENTS: Sixty (American Society of Anesthesiologist class I-II) patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy were divided into 2 groups

INTERVENTION: Patients in group DT received 50 mg dexketoprofen trometamol, whereas patients in group DS received 75 mg diclofenac sodium, intravenously 30 minutes before the end of surgery.

MEASUREMENTS: Postoperative pain intensity, morphine consumption with patient-controlled analgesia, time to first analgesic requirement, complications, rescue analgesic (intravenous tenoxicam 20 mg) requirement, and duration of hospital stay were recorded.

MAIN RESULTS: Postoperative pain visual analog scale scores were similar in the follow-up periods (P > .05). Patient-controlled analgesia morphine consumption was significantly less in group DT compared with group DS in all postoperative follow-up periods (2 and 4 hours: P < .01; 8, 12, 18, and 24 hours: P < .001). In the postoperative period, the first analgesic requirement time was significantly longer in group DT compared with group DS (P < .01). In addition, the number of patients requiring rescue analgesic was higher in group DS compared with group DT (P < .01). Other follow-up parameters were similar.

CONCLUSION: In our study, administration of intravenous single-dose dexketoprofen trometamol 30 minutes before the end of surgery provided effective analgesia with reduced consumption of opioids and requirement for rescue analgesic compared with diclofenac sodium in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. For this reason, we believe that, as a part of multimodal analgesia, dexketoprofen trometamol provides more effective analgesia than diclofenac sodium in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy.