Different drug doses and routes of administration were lumped together. Findings Thirteen trials examined intramuscular diclofenac, and one trial examined rectal diclofenac. Six trials examined intravenous indoprofen, and two trials looked at intramuscular ketorolac. Active controls were spasmofen, scopolamine, prochlorperazine, avafortan, meperidine, dipyrone, ketogan, baralgan, hydromorphone with atropine, proclorperazine, metamizole, papaverine and oxycodone. It is not possible to combine trials with different routes of administration, different drug doses, or different active controls as has been done with this review.
Results presented below are of the trials where combination was possible.
Both trials found that diclofenac was significantly superior to placebo in completely relieving pain. A further trial with this comparison is reported. Outcome is not reported. Trial outcomes were not broken down by the reviewers to enable a comparison. The review did not cover adverse effects.