Prospective randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of preoperative etoricoxib for pain relief in uterine fractional curettage under paracervical block

ObjectiveTo evaluate the analgesic efficacy of preoperative etoricoxib combined with paracervical nerve block in patients who underwent uterine fractional curettage.Study designThis double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial included 80 women who underwent uterine fractional curettage under paracervical block. Forty women were randomly assigned to etoricoxib 120 mg and 40 women to the placebo. The main outcome measure was the intensity of pain measured using the visual analog pain score during and after the procedure. Student's t-tests, Mann–Whitney U-test, and Chi-squared test were used for statistical analysis.ResultsThe intensity of pain during operative procedure in the etoricoxib group was lower than in the placebo group (median visual analog pain scores (interquartile range) 48 (43–64) vs. 61 (51–72), P = 0.001) The amount of postoperative acetaminophen used in the etoricoxib group was also lower than in the placebo group (2.2 ± 1.7 vs. 3.2 ± 1.7 tablets, P = 0.011). We found no significant adverse effects in this study.ConclusionThe preoperative administration of 120 mg oral etoricoxib can slightly reduce pain during fractional curettage under paracervical block. However, the degree of pain reduction by this treatment has no clinical importance.