Comparative evaluation of the effects of Ketorolac suppository 30 mg in comparison with Ketoprofen suppository 100 mg in patients with acute low back pain

The analgesic activity of Ketorolac tromethamine suppository 30 mg. vs Ketoprofen suppository 100 mg. has been studied in patients affected by acute low back pain, in a randomized, blind observer study. 60 patients were randomly assigned to treatment, obtaining two groups of 30 patients treated b.i.d. for 5 days. The two drugs resulted equally effective in pain reduction and pain relief. Ketorolac showed a quicker and higher analgesic acitivity, which was statistically significant within 2 hrs, while Ketoprofen did so only after 4 hrs. The same applied to effects on functional impairment. The two drugs resulted equally effective on a 5-days basis, but Ketorolac induced a significant two improvement of functional activities already at the 2nd day, while Ketoprofen obtained a similar result only after 5 days. Local and systemic tolerability of both drugs resulted highly satisfactory. In conclusion, our data show that Ketorolac suppository is effective in treating pain related to acute low back pain and has a very interesting quick onset of action.