Intramuscular NSAIDS reduce post-operative pain after minor outpatient anaesthesia

Two hundred healthy patients scheduled for elective minor gynaecological surgery under general anaesthesia were randomly allocated to one of four groups who received either diclofenac 75 mg intramuscularly (i.m.), ketorolac 30 mg i.m., diclofenac 50 mg orally, or 2 mL NaCl i.m. The drugs were administered 10-20 min prior to a standard anaesthetic. All surgery was uneventful. The patients were discharged after a mean of 110 +/- 30 min with no differences between the groups. Complaints about pain and need for post-operative analgesics were significantly less frequent in the two groups of patients receiving an intramuscular non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), as compared to placebo. The patients who received 50 mg diclofenac orally, administered shortly before the procedure, had the same pain course as the placebo patients.