Prospective double-blind comparison of buprenorphine and pethidine in ureteric colic

In a double-blind prospective trial 26 consecutive patients with proved ureteric colic were allocated at random to receive 100 mg pethidine or 0.3 mg buprenorphine by intramuscular injection. Pain relief was assessed by standard linear analogue and ordered categories scales. The mean pain relief on the linear analogue scale was 3.80 +/- SEM 0.64 in patients receiving pethidine and 6.86 +/- 0.40 in those receiving buprenorphine (p less than 0.001). The corresponding values for mean pain relief in the ordered categories scale was 1.78 +/- 0.26 v 2.76 +/- 0.20 (p less than 0.01). These observations suggest that buprenorphine is superior to pethidine as analgesia in ureteric colic.