Ketorolac analgesia in the emergency department in adults: systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and objective: Acute painful conditions are a common reason to emergency department (ED) referral, and a broad variety of analgesic drugs may be used. Among them, ketorolac is a Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug (NSAID) increasingly used in the last two decades. In order to clarify the available evidence about the use of ketorolac in the ED setting, a systematic review and meta-analysis was performed. Databases and data treatment: A search was performed in PubMed for English written articles updated to February 2023. Only randomized controlled trials regarding adult patients with acute painful conditions treated in the ED were selected. A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of ketorolac in different pain conditions. Results: : Forty randomized controlled trials were selected including studies focused on acute renal colic, headache, traumatic and non-traumatic musculoskeletal pain, and biliary colic. In these studies, ketorolac was mainly compared to opioids and in general showed a similar analgesic efficacy. On the other hand, when compared to other NSAIDs, ketorolac does not seem to have a stronger analgesic effect. Conclusion: s: This systematic review indicates that ketorolac is a valuable option, alternative to opioids, to induce analgesia in adult ED patients, as our meta-analysis showed no significant difference in efficacy compared to opioids or other NSAIDs. Nevertheless, the evidence regarding its efficacy compared to other commonly NSAIDs is still limited and should be further explored in future studies.