Analgesic refractory colic pain: Is prolonged conservative management appropriate?

To propose a clear definition and management pathway of patients with analgesic refractory colic pain (ARCP).

Prospective cohort study from February 2018 to February 2019 including patients with ARCP defined as ongoing renal colic pain after one dose of IV NSAID, IV paracetamol, and a parenteral opioid, given sequentially in that order. Patients were observed in-hospital under full parenteral analgesic management for 8-12 h, whenever patients had minimal or absent pain after conservative management (CM) they were discharged, and followed-up with new imaging within four weeks. If the pain was not controlled after CM, surgical management (double-J stent or ureteroscopy) was performed. We excluded patients with any other indication for urgent intervention or in cases where CM was deemed inappropriate (sepsis, acute renal failure, stones >10 mm in size, suspected concomitant urinary tract infection, bilateral ureteral stones, pregnancy, patients with a single kidney, kidney transplant recipients, difficult access to medical care or refusal to undergo CM).

Data from 60 patients was collected. The only variable associated with an increased risk of failed CM was a history of previous renal colic (OR 3.98 [95% CI 1.14-13.84], p = 0.02). Neither gender, age, stone size, location, or hydronephrosis grade were able to predict CM failure. 41.6% of patients were successfully managed conservatively and only 8% of them required scheduled surgical management at follow-up.

Our results show that a high proportion of patients with ARCP may be successfully managed conservatively with an extended observation period without complications at follow-up. These results should be replicated in a randomized controlled trial to confirm them.