Comparison of the Effect of Ketorolac and Morphine on Pain Management in Patients with Spinal Trauma in Emergency Department: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial Study

Background: Sever pain due to various reasons is one of the most important complaints of patients in the emergency department; so, management of pain is one of the main challenges there. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of ketorolac in comparison to morphine on pain reduction in patients with spinal trauma in emergency department. Methods: This randomized controlled clinical trial study was done on 100 patients with spinal trauma who were randomly assigned in two groups of ketorolac (30 mg) and morphine (0.1 mg/kg). Drugs were infused in both groups in 100 cc normal saline solution during 15 minutes. Pain was assessed based on visual analog scale (from 0 means no pain to 10 means the worst pain possible), and adverse effects, as the main outcomes, were measured and compared between the groups at baseline, and minutes 5, 15, 30, 45, and 60 after drugs injection. Pain scores were compared using independent t test, and adverse effects using chi-square test. Findings: Pain score at minutes 45 and 60 after injection was significantly lower in ketorolac group than morphine group (P < 0.050). In morphine group, 34.8% of patients and in ketorolac group, only 2.1% of patients reported nausea during the study (P < 0.001). The trend of change in pain score was not significantly different between studied groups during study period (P = 0.106). Conclusion: Due to better effects of ketorolac on pain reduction in studied patients, with lower side effects in comparison to morphine, it seems that ketorolac can be considered as a good alternative of morphine for pain management in patients with spinal trauma referred emergency department.