COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF INTRAMUSCULAR KETOROLAC TROMETHAMINE AND MORPHINE IN PATIENTS EXPERIENCING CANCER PAIN

Ketorolac tromethamine administered intramuscularly (i.m.) 10 mg 6-hou rly was compared with morphine 10 mg i.m. 6-hourly in a randomised, do uble-blind, cross-over trial for its analgesic efficacy and safety in 51 patients with moderate to severe cancer pain. There was no overall significant difference between the analgesic effect of the two treatme nts. 57% of ketorolac- and 74% of morphine-treated patients changed th eir analgesic. Among these, significantly more patients stopped ketoro lac than morphine due to pain (p=0.007) whilst more patients discontin ued morphine than ketorolac because of adverse effects (p=0.001), pred ominantly emesis. Only one patient (2%) stopped ketorolac because of i ntolerance. Ketorolac shows promise as an effective and well tolerated analgesic for cancer pain and merits further study.