Pre-emptive Analgesic Efficacy of Single-Dose Transdermal Ketoprofen and Diclofenac Patches in Post-operative Pain Management Following Open Treatment of Mandibular Fractures: A Randomized Controlled Study

Introduction: The present study was deliberated to assess the pre-emptive analgesic efficacy of diclofenac sodium and ketoprofen transdermal patches following open treatment of mandibular fractures. Methods: The present prospective, triple-blind, randomized controlled clinical study was carried out on 50 male patients with a mean age of 30-31 years having bifocal mandibular fractures. The subjects were assigned 1:1 to two groups; group K - ketoprofen group and group D - diclofenac sodium group. Patches were applied according to the group allocation one hour before induction. In the immediate post-operative (PO) phase, pain intensity was recorded using a 10-point Visual analog Scale at 2, 4, 8, 12, and 24 hourly. Statistical analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS 27.0 version (IBM SPSS, Armonk, NY) and GraphPad Prism 7.0 version (GraphPad Software, Inc., La Jolla, CA) and p<0.05 is considered a level of significance. Results : The present study demonstrated a statistical difference in mean pain intensity among both groups, with lower pain scores at all time intervals and fewer rescue analgesic consumption in the ketoprofen group. Conclusion: The ketoprofen transdermal patch was found to be superior in comparison to the diclofenac patch in terms of providing optimal post-operative analgesia with a reduced requirement for post-operative rescue analgesics and minimal adverse events.