Objective: Even though
ketorolac-infiltration is said to provide superior postoperative
analgesic benefits in different
surgical procedures, its safety and efficacy remain to be validated because of the lack of high-quality evidence. We aimed to summarize the efficacy and safety of
ketorolac-infiltration based on published randomized-controlled trials (RCTs). Approach: This work followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, assessing the methodological quality of systematic reviews and the Cochrane Collaboration recommendations. We searched for RCTs evaluating the efficacy of
ketorolac-infiltration in adults in the PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, Chinese databases, and Google Scholar. The two co-primary outcomes of this meta-analysis were rescue
analgesic consumption in the 24-h postoperative period and rest
pain scores. Results: Twelve trials (761 patients) were analyzed.
Ketorolac-infiltration provided a clinically unimportant benefit in
morphine consumption (mean difference, -2.81 mg; 95% confidence interval [CI], -5.11 to -0.50; p = 0.02; moderate-quality evidence). Low-to-moderate quality evidence supported a brief (2-6 h), clinically subtle, but statistically consistent effect of surgical site
ketorolac-infiltration in reducing
wound pain at rest. High-quality evidence supported shorter
hospital stays for surgical patients receiving local
ketorolac-infiltration when compared to controls (mean difference, -0.12 days; 95% CI, -0.17 to -0.08; p < 0.00001). Further,
ketorolac-infiltration does not improve any
opioid-related side effects. Innovation:
Ketorolac-infiltration provides statistically significant but clinically unimportant benefits for improving postoperative
wound pain. Conclusion: Overall, despite the fact that current moderate-to-high quality of evidence does not support routine using of
ketorolac as an adjuvant to
local anesthetic for
wound infiltration, these findings underscore the importance of optimizing agents and sustained delivery parameters in postoperative
local anesthetic practice. Clinical Trials.gov ID: CRD42021229095.