Ketorolac as a preoperative nonnarcotic analgesic to enhance anesthesia and postanesthesia recovery.

The benefits of using ketorolac as a preoperative intramuscular (IM) non-narcotic analgesic are described and illustrated by the presentation of two case reports. Case Summary--Patient 1: A 53-year-old female who had experienced refractory nausea and vomiting after six previous exposures to anesthesia presented for outpatient ureteroscopy and dilatation of strictures. Instead of using an opiate narcotic, ketorolac 60 mg IM was given 1 hour before induction as the analgesic portion of anesthesia. Case Summary--Patient 2: A 65-year-old male with mild chronic obstructive lung disease presented for extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL). To avoid the respiratory depression associated with opioid narcotics, ketorolac 60 mg IM was given as an analgesic 1 hour before the ESWL procedure.