Brendan Carvalho
Publication Details
-
Postoperative subcutaneous instillation of low-dose ketorolac but not hydromorphone reduces wound exudate concentrations of interleukin-6 and interleukin-10 and improves analgesia following cesarean delivery.
J Pain. 2013; (1): 48-56
The objectives of this study were to test the effects of low-dose ketorolac and hydromorphone added to continuous local anesthetic wound instillation on surgical-site inflammatory mediators, postoperative pain, and opioid consumption. Sixty healthy women undergoing cesarean delivery were enrolled in this randomized, double-blinded study. Patients were randomized to receive a subcutaneous wound instillation of bupivacaine .5% at 10 mg/hour (active control), bupivacaine .5% with ketorolac .6 mg/hour, or bupivacaine .5% with hydromorphone .04 mg/hour for 48 hours postcesarean. Wound exudate was sampled at 4, 24, and 48 hours postcesarean and assayed for interleukins IL-1β, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and IL-12, tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), interferon (INF-γ), and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). The addition of ketorolac to bupivacaine significantly decreased IL-6 (P = .012) and IL-10 (P = .005) compared to plain bupivacaine. Ketorolac, but not hydromorphone, was associated with a decrease in pain (P = .018) and analgesic use (P = .020) following cesarean delivery. Our results are compatible with the view that significant analgesics effects are mediated through local modulation of inflammatory events. Low-dose ketorolac administered into surgical wounds exert significant anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects and may be a valuable analgesic alternative to systemic nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) but with potentially fewer side effects.
Help