The present study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of
ketorolac compared with
metamizol (
Nolotil) in the control of
pain after plastic surgery. Almost no literature exists on
postoperative pain control in this specialty. A multiple-dose, randomized, double-blind study of parallel design was carried out. One hundred patients received either
ketorolac 30 mg intramuscularly (IM) every 8 hours or
metamizol 2 g IM every 8 hours for postoperative
analgesia during the first 48 postoperative hours.
Pain severity was assessed using a visual analog scale. Adverse events were recorded. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of
pain scores or frequency of adverse events throughout the study. Two
postoperative hemorrhages were recorded in the
ketorolac group.
Ketorolac and
metamizol were found to be equally safe and effective in reducing
postoperative pain after plastic surgery. It should be noted that 52% of patients in the
ketorolac group and 48% in the
metamizol group considered their postoperative
analgesia to be very good. Nevertheless, for
surgical procedures or for patients in whom postoperative
hematoma formation is a particular concern,
ketorolac probably should not be used.