Evaluating Pain Outcomes of Ketorolac Administration in Children Undergoing Circumcision

Summary

Circumcision is the most common surgical procedure performed by Pediatric Urologists. Ketorolac has been shown to have an efficacy similar to morphine in multi-modal analgesic regimens without the commonly associated adverse effects. This study aims to see if giving ketorolac during the operation will result in better pain control. We hypothesize that ketorolac will result in pain control similar to morphine with a lower incidence of side effects such as nausea and vomiting.

Timeline

Start

2017-02-01

Primary completion

2018-06-28

Completion

2018-06-28

Publications

• Background Allan CY, Jacqueline PA, Shubhda JH. Caudal epidural block versus other methods of postoperative pain relief for circumcision in boys. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2003;(2):CD003005. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD003005.
• Background Brady-Fryer B, Wiebe N, Lander JA. Pain relief for neonatal circumcision. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004 Oct 18;2004(4):CD004217. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004217.pub2.
• Background American Society of Anesthesiologists Task Force on Acute Pain Management. Practice guidelines for acute pain management in the perioperative setting: an updated report by the American Society of Anesthesiologists Task Force on Acute Pain Management. Anesthesiology. 2012 Feb;116(2):248-73. doi: 10.1097/ALN.0b013e31823c1030. No abstract available.
• Background Adler R, Ottaway MS, Gould S. Circumcision: we have heard from the experts; now let's hear from the parents. Pediatrics. 2001 Feb;107(2):E20. doi: 10.1542/peds.107.2.e20.
• Background Sutters KA, Levine JD, Dibble S, Savedra M, Miaskowski C. Analgesic efficacy and safety of single-dose intramuscular ketorolac for postoperative pain management in children following tonsillectomy. Pain. 1995 Apr;61(1):145-153. doi: 10.1016/0304-3959(94)00166-C.
• Background Gunter JB, Varughese AM, Harrington JF, Wittkugel EP, Patankar SS, Matar MM, Lowe EE, Myer CM 3rd, Willging JP. Recovery and complications after tonsillectomy in children: a comparison of ketorolac and morphine. Anesth Analg. 1995 Dec;81(6):1136-41. doi: 10.1097/00000539-199512000-00004.
• Background De Oliveira GS Jr, Agarwal D, Benzon HT. Perioperative single dose ketorolac to prevent postoperative pain: a meta-analysis of randomized trials. Anesth Analg. 2012 Feb;114(2):424-33. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0b013e3182334d68. Epub 2011 Sep 29.
• Background von Baeyer CL, Spagrud LJ. Systematic review of observational (behavioral) measures of pain for children and adolescents aged 3 to 18 years. Pain. 2007 Jan;127(1-2):140-50. doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2006.08.014. Epub 2006 Sep 25.
• Background Merkel SI, Voepel-Lewis T, Shayevitz JR, Malviya S. The FLACC: a behavioral scale for scoring postoperative pain in young children. Pediatr Nurs. 1997 May-Jun;23(3):293-7.
• Background Chambers CT, Hardial J, Craig KD, Court C, Montgomery C. Faces scales for the measurement of postoperative pain intensity in children following minor surgery. Clin J Pain. 2005 May-Jun;21(3):277-85. doi: 10.1097/00002508-200505000-00011.
• Background Chambers CT, Finley AG, McGrath PJ, Walsh TM. The parents' postoperative pain measure: replication and extension to 2-6-year-old children. Pain. 2003 Oct;105(3):437-443. doi: 10.1016/S0304-3959(03)00256-2.
• Background Julious SA. Sample size of 12 per group rule of thumb for a pilot study. Pharmaceutical Statistics 4.4: 287-291, 2005
• Sumner C, Patel P, Spencer A, Al-Kazzaz H, Walker A, Lee J, MacRobie A, Fermin-Risso C, Cook A, Diaz D, Weber B. Pain outcomes of pediatric circumcision patients following administration of pre-operative ketorolac: A randomized clinical trial. J Pediatr Urol. 2026 May 20;22(5):106034. doi: 10.1016/j.jpurol.2026.106034. Online ahead of print.

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