J Emerg Med
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Slow infusion for the prevention of akathisia induced by prochlorperazine: a randomized controlled trial.
The utility of intravenous prochlorperazine (PCZ) in the treatment of nausea, vomiting, and headache may be limited by the akathisia that occurs frequently with the recommended 2-min infusion rate. We tested the hypothesis that decreasing the rate of PCZ infusion to 15 min reduces the incidence of akathisia at 1 hour. This double-blinded, randomized, controlled trial was conducted in the Emergency Department of an academic tertiary-care medical center with an annual census of 95,000 emergency patient visits. ⋯ Akathisia developed in 31 of 84 patients (36.9%) who received the 2-min infusion of PCZ and in 18 of 76 patients (23.7%) who received the 15-min infusion of PCZ (p = 0.07), a 36% (95% CI, -5% to 61%) relative reduction. The delta from pre-infusion to postinfusion scores between the two groups was not significant (p = 0.19). We conclude that slowing the rate of PCZ infusion does not decrease akathisia.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
A prospective study comparing i.m. ketorolac with i.m. meperidine in the treatment of acute biliary colic.
Ketorolac is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication that is used widely for pain management. Its effects are mediated through the inhibition of prostaglandins, which makes it uniquely different from opioids in relieving pain. We conducted a randomized, prospective, double blind study of patients presenting to our Emergency Department (ED) with a diagnosis of acute biliary colic. ⋯ The mean global pain score and need for an emergency cholecystectomy were similar in the two groups. Rescue medication for additional analgesia at 30 min was needed in 4 patients in the meperidine group and in 2 patients in the ketorolac group (28.6% versus 12.5%, respectively; NS). In this study of patients with acute biliary colic there was no significant difference in the pain relief achieved by using either ketorolac or meperidine.