The Effect of Intravenous Dexketoprofen and Tenoxicam on Propofol Injection Pain

Background and Objectives: The aim of our study is to research the efficacy of tenoxicam and dexketoprofen in preventing propofol injection pain. Methods: The study included 150 patients aged from 20 to 60 years. The patients were randomly divided into 3 groups. Two minutes before iv propofol administration for induction of general anesthesia patients in Group I were given 2 mL saline, patients in Group II were given 20 mg (2 mL) tenoxicam and patients in Group III were given 50 mg (2 mL) dexketoprofen. After administering 1 quarter of the calculated propofol dose injection pain severity was assessed using a four-point verbal rating scale (VRS) and numeric rating scale (NRS).Results: Due to pain felt during administration of the study medication in the dexketoprofen group, the study was terminated after 18 patients. The data from 118 patients were assessed. The incidence of propofol injection pain in the saline group was 76%, while this was 38% in the tenoxicam group and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.01). NRS score was 3.1±2.2 in the saline group, 1.7±1.7 in the tenoxicam group and 1.9±1.5 in the dexketoprofen group and it was statistically significantly higher in the saline group compared to the tenoxicam and dexketoprofen groups (p<0.01 and p<0.05 respectively). Conclusions: At the end of our study we identified that 20 mg iv tenoxicam pretreatment was effective in reducing propofol injection pain