A comparison of intravenous ketoprofen with pethidine for postoperative pain relief following nasal surgery

A controlled investigation was conducted to compare the efficacy of ketoprofen and pethidine in relief of postoperative pain after nasal surgery. Sixty patients were randomly allocated to receive intravenous ketoprofen 1.5 mg.ml-1 or pethidine 1 mg.kg-1 during induction of anaesthesia. Appearance, pain and headache were assessed 1, 2, and 4 h postoperatively, and the following morning. The use of ketoprofen was associated with a significantly faster recovery from anaesthesia (P less than 0.001), and a more rapid return to calm awakening (P less than 0.05). Patients who received ketoprofen had significantly lower pain and headache scores (P less than 0.01 and P less than 0.001, respectively), and required significantly (P less than 0.05) less postoperative analgesia. No significant difference in incidence and severity of postoperative nausea or vomiting was found between the two groups at any time. A single intravenous dose of ketoprofen during anaesthesia may offer an advantage compared to pethidine in reducing postoperative pain following nasal surgery.