Comparative-study of intramuscular ketorolac tromethamine and morphine in patients experiencing cancer pain

Ketorolac tromethamine administered intramuscularly (i.m.) 10 mg 6-hourly was compared with morphine 10 mg i.m. 6-hourly in a randomised, double-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 treatments. 57% of ketorolac- and 74% of morphine-treated patients changed their analgesic. Among these, significantly more patients stopped ketorolac than morphine due to pain (p=0.007) whilst more patients discontinued morphine than ketorolac because of adverse effects (p=0.001), predominantly emesis. Only one patient (2%) stopped ketorolac because of intolerance. Ketorolac shows promise as an effective and well tolerated analgesic for cancer pain and merits further study.