Intravenous tenoxicam for the treatment of renal colic
Curry, C.; Kelly, A.M.
New Zealand Medical Journal 108(1001): 229-230
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 0028-8446 PMID: 7603654 Document Number: 446560
Renal colic is a common reason for presenting to emergency department. Pain is often severe and effective relief is sought urgently. Narcotic analgesics have been the mainstay of analgesia for this condition, however they have several shortcomings, in particular safety and storage requirements, significant side effects and addiction. Experimental work has suggested that the pain of renal colic is prostaglandin mediated. Thus it has been proposed that drugs with antiprostaglandin effects may be valuable for management of this type of pain. Several studies have demonstrated that parenterally administered nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can be as effective as parenteral pethidine for analgesia. The agent studied (diclofenac) is not available for intravenous use in New Zealand, however another NSAID, tenoxicam, has recently been licensed. The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of intravenously administered tenoxicam to pethidine in the management of renal colic. This is the first study investigating the efficacy of tenoxicam in this clinical setting.