Comparison of the effects of desmopressin and pethedin in treatment of acute renal colic

Renal colic pain is a problem in emergency rooms and for some out- patients. Narcotic drugs are the drugs of choice for pain relief in these patients, but possible abuse, inaccessibility and some complications limit their usage. Recently desmopressin drop has been proposed as an analgesic. This drug is used by nasal route and has physiologic effects for pain relief in renal colic. In this study, we compare the analgesic effects of this drug with pethedin, one of the drugs of choice in renal colic. Sixty-eight renal colic patients (43 men, 25 women) were randomly divided into two equal groups. The first group was treated with 25 mg intramuscular pethedin and the second group treated with 40 μg intranasal desmopressin. Pain intensity was measured at admission, 10 and 30 minutes after the drug administration with McGill pain questionnaire. Pethedin resulted in a decrease of pain from 12.7±0.6 to10.1±0.5 at 10 minutes and to 2.9±0.5 at 30 minutes after the drug administration. desmopressin caused a decrease of pain from 11.5±2.8 to 10.1±0. 6 at 10 minutes and 9.5±0.5 at 30 minutes after the drug administration. The difference was significant (p<0.01). The results of this study revealed that desmopressin is not effective for pain relief and pethedin is a drug of choice for renal colic.