Arthroscopy : the journal of arthroscopic & related surgery : official publication of the Arthroscopy Association of North America and the International Arthroscopy Association
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Comparison of oral ketorolac and hydrocodone for pain relief after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.
The analgesic effectiveness of ketorolac tromethamine was compared with hydrocodone and acetaminophen for pain from an arthroscopically assisted patellar-tendon autograft anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. There were 125 patients evaluated in a double-blind, randomized, multicenter, and multidose study. A loading dose of parental ketorolac tromethamine was administered and subjects were later given two staged doses of the same "unknown" drug with pain evaluations conducted after each dose. ⋯ Moreover, ketorolac tromethamine was no more likely to cause digestive complaints than hydrocodone and acetaminophen. No bleeding problems were observed in either group. In the outpatient setting, ketorolac tromethamine controls postoperative pain better than hydrocodone and acetaminophen in the immediate postsurgery period.