Preoperative peritonsillar lornoxicam infiltration is not superior to intravenous lornoxicam for pain relief following tonsillectomy in adults

Abstract

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have peripheral analgesic effects. We compared the efficacy of peritonsillar infiltration versus intravenous (i.v.) lornoxicam on pain relief after tonsillectomy in adults. Sixty adult patients scheduled for tonsillectomy were randomly assigned into three groups in a double-blind placebo-controlled study. In the control group, the patients received i.v. and peritonsillar saline infiltration; in the infiltration group, they received i.v. isotonic saline and peritonsillar lornoxicam infiltration, whereas in the i.v. group they received i.v. lornoxicam and peritonsillar saline infiltration. Pain verbal analogue scale at rest and on swallowing, the time to the first postoperative analgesic request, the total postoperative analgesic consumption during the first 24 h, intraoperative blood loss and postoperative bleeding were evaluated. Preoperative lornoxicam administration resulted in a significant reduction in pain scores postoperatively in the infiltration and i.v. groups with no significant difference between them. The time to first postoperative analgesic request was 143 +/- 138 min in the control group compared with 684 +/- 328 and 750 +/- 316 min in the i.v. and infiltration groups, respectively; P value is less than 0.05. Similarly a higher total paracetamol consumption (2632 +/- 1065 mg) during the first postoperative day was recorded in the control group than in both the lornoxicam groups (1300 +/- 733 and 1600 +/- 754 mg), with no significant differences between the i.v. and infiltration groups. Comparable intraoperative blood losses with no posttonsillectomy bleeding were recorded in the three study groups. Peritonsillar infiltration or i.v. lornoxicam enhanced postoperative analgesia after tonsillectomy in adults. However, the analgesic efficacy of locally applied lornoxicam is not superior to the i.v. administration.