The analgesic effect of ketorolac addition for renal colic pain: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies

Abstract

Introduction: The effect of ketorolac addition for the pain control of renal colic remains controversial. We conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the analgesic efficacy of ketorolac addition for renal colic.

Methods: We search PubMed, EMbase, Web of science, EBSCO, and Cochrane library databases through September 2020 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the analgesic efficacy of ketorolac addition for renal colic. This meta-analysis is performed using the random-effect model.

Results: Four RCTs are included in the meta-analysis. In patients with renal colic pain, ketorolac addition is associated with significantly lower pain scores at 10-20 min (SMD=-2.50; 95% CI=-4.31 to -0.68; P=0.007) and analgesic rescue (RR=0.68; 95% CI=0.52 to 0.89; P=0.006), but reveals no notable effect on nausea (RR=0.36; 95% CI=0.12 to 1.12; P=0.08), vomiting (RR=0.50; 95% CI=0.13 to 1.95; P=0.31), or dizziness (RR=0.68; 95% CI=0.05 to 0.60; P=0.007).

Conclusions: Ketorolac addition may improve the analgesic efficacy for renal colic pain.

Keywords: Analgesic efficacy; Ketorolac; Randomized controlled trials; Renal colic pain.