Aim:

The aim of this study was to evaluate the analgesic efficacy and side-effects of dexketoprofen and tramadol administered intravenously before thyroid surgery.

Methods:

A group of 63 patients, who were graded as American Society of Anaesthesiologists physical status (ASA) I-II and in whom a thyroid surgery was planned, were randomly divided into 3 groups: the patients in Group D (n=21), Group T (n=21) and Group K (n=21) received 50 mg (2ml) of dexketoprofen, 100 mg (2 ml) of tramadol and 2 ml 0.9% NaCl serum, respectively, before surgery. Standard anesthesia monitoring, induction and maintenance was performed in all patients. At the end of the surgery, the incision line was infiltrated with bupivacaine in all patients. Visual analogue scale (VAS) scores (0: no pain,10: worst pain ever) were recorded in all groups at the beginning (in the recovery room), at the 1st, 6th, 12th and 24th hour post-operatively. Nausea-vomiting, head and neck pain, sore throat, dizziness and other possible side-effects were also asked and recorded.

Results:

VAS scores were statistically higher in Group K than in Group T and Group D at the 1st, 6th, 12th, and 24th hours postoperatively. There was no significant difference between Group T and Group D in VAS scores evaluated at all time points.. The fentanyl consumption in Group K was higher than in the other two groups. The incidence of headache, sore throat nausea, vomiting was higher in Group K compared with that in Group T and Group D.

Conclusion:

We determined that preoperative tramadol and dexketoprofen had similar analgesic effect and dexketoprofen caused less side-effects.

Keywords: Dexketoprofen, tramadol, pain, thyroid, surgery