Are You Overdosing Toradol? Evidence for the New Analgesic Ceiling
Sat, 12/17/2016 - 3:57pm
Study Design: Randomized, double-blind trial of 240 patients to assess the efficacy of 3 doses of intravenous ketorolac (10 mg, 15 mg, 30 mg) in patients with a pain score greater than or equal to 5 on numeric rating scale.
Primary Outcome: Pain reduction at 30 minutes from medication administration
Secondary Outcomes: Rates of rescue analgesia, Adverse events
Results:
- At 30 minutes, "substantial pain reduction was demonstrated without any differences between the groups."
- 10 mg group: Baseline pain score = 7.7, 30 minute score = 5.1 (95% CI 4.5-5.7)
- 15 mg group: Baseline pain score = 7.5, 30 minute score = 5.0 (95% CI 4.5-5.6)
- 30 mg group: Baseline pain score = 7.8, 30 minute score = 4.8 (95% CI 4.2-5.4)
- Rates of rescue anaglesia were similar in all three groups
- Rates of adverse events were similar in all three groups
Conclusion: IV ketorolac provides similar analgesic efficacy for moderate to severe pain at doses of 10 mg, 15 mg, and 30 mg. The evidences supports a lower analgesic ceiling for IV ketorolac at 10 mg.