Enteral diclofenac controls pain and reduces intravenous injection during extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy

Urinary system stones are the third most common disease of urinary system following urinary infection and prostate pathology. Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) is one of the methods used to treat Urolithiasis where shockwaves are transmitted through skin and body organs and crush the stones into small pieces. This is a painful procedure which usually requires analgesics. Each analgesic drug has its own advantages and disadvantages. The present research seeks to study the effectiveness of using diclofenac suppository in order to control pain and reduce need for venous drugs during ESWL procedure. This is a double blind clinical trial. 158 patients resorting to Shahid Hasheminezhad Specialized Center for ESWL were randomly selected to take part in this projects with due consideration of inclusion criteria. The patients were equally divided into the S (diclofenac suppository) and A (placebo) groups. 2 diclofenac suppositories were used in the S group 20 minutes prior to beginning ESWL. Then, ESWL was carried out in supine position using fluoroscopic conduction with standard method. The present research has studied pain scale of patients, operator’s and patient’s satisfaction during the operation and patient’s hemodynamic parameters in three phases prior to, during, and after ESWL. SPSS v.17 was used to study the data and Chi-Square Tests and Repeated Measure ANOVA were used to analyze the results. The level of significance in the present research was set to P-value<0.05.A review of pain scales across both groups showed that using diclofenac suppository has a significant influence in reducing the pain scale and, hence, need for venous drugs (P-value<0.05). No significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of heart beat and blood pressure changes in various times (P-value>0.05). The results also report different satisfaction levels for patients and operators across the two groups (diclofenac suppository and placebo) (P-value<0.05). Higher satisfaction levels were observed among both patients and operators in the group receiving diclofenac suppository. A general look at the data yields the conclusion that receiving pain killers (diclofenac suppository) before starting ESWL plays a more efficient role in reducing pain scales of patients and enhancing operators’ satisfaction.