Dexketoprofen versus Tenoxicam in Acute Severe Pain Due to Primary Dysmenorrhea

To evaluate the analgaesic efficacy of tenoxicam and dexketoprofen in patients admitted to the Emergency Medicine (EM) Clinic with severe acute pain due to primary dysmenorrhea (PD).

Randomised-controlled trial. Place and Duration of the Study: Emergency Medicine Clinic, Health Sciences University, Adana City Training and Research Hospital, Adana, Turkiye, from January to December 2022.

Patients presenting with PD, were divided into two groups of 60 each, administered 50 mg dexketoprofen and 20 mg tenoxicam intravenously. Visual analogue scale (VAS) scores were recorded at the 15th, 30th, 60th, and 120th minutes. VAS scores and ΔVAS scores were compared with the effectiveness of drugs, the need for rescue drugs and its side-effects.

Intravenous (IV) dexketoprofen was administered to 60 of the patients and IV tenoxicam was administered to another 60. At the time of admission, mean VAS scores of the patients were 8.8 ± 0.9 for the dexketoprofen group and 8.6 ± 0.8 for the tenoxicam group. The VAS scores of the dexketoprofen group were found to be statistically significantly lower after 30 minutes with lower need for rescue analgaesics. ΔVAS scores of the dexketoprofen group were statistically significantly higher from the 30th minute.

According to the VAS scoring, IV dexketoprofen was a more effective drug than IV tenoxicam in patients who were admitted to the EM clinic with severe pain due to PD.

Dexketoprofen, Primary dysmenorrhea, VAS score.