[Analgesic effect of ibuprofen in pain after episiotomy]

The relief of post-episiotomy pain was investigated in three groups of women, ranked ASA 1 or 2, using either a single dose of 400 mg of ibuprofen (n = 31), or 1 g of paracetamol (n = 28) or placebo (n = 31). Pain intensity was assessed with a visual analogic scale, a verbal scale and pain relief scores after half an hour, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 h. The day after treatment, patients rated the quality of pain relief, and were asked whether they wished to take again the same drug for the same type of pain. In the placebo and paracetamol groups, respectively 22 and 16 patients asked for usual treatment before the sixth hour, whereas only 5 did so in the ibuprofen group (p less than 0.001). Ibuprofen was more effective after one hour than either of the other two drugs, whatever the scale or parameter used. In the ibuprofen group, the lower pain score was observed at the third hour. At six hours, the pain score did not differ from that three hours earlier. On the day after treatment, 22 patients from the ibuprofen group considered pain relief to have been good or excellent, versus 8 and 5 in the paracetamol and placebo groups respectively (p less than 0.001). Similarly, 24 patients from the ibuprofen group would accept the same drug again for the same type of pain, as opposed to 8 and 5 from the paracetamol and placebo groups respectively (p less than 0.01). The only side-effect reported was abdominal pain in one patient (placebo group).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)