A double-blind comparison of dezocine and morphine in patients with acute renal and ureteral colic

The safety and analgesic efficacy of dezocine and morphine in the treatment of acute renal or ureteral colic due to calculi were evaluated in 2 multicenter, double-blind studies, comparing 10 mg. dezocine and 10 mg. morphine in 88 patients, and 15 mg. dezocine and 10 mg. morphine in 61 patients. All patients received an intramuscular injection of the test drug, and pain intensity and pain relief were evaluated through 4 hours after drug administration. Vital signs, degree of sedation and adverse effects also were recorded. Mean efficacy scores were virtually identical for 10 mg. dezocine and 10 mg. morphine but 15 mg. dezocine produced consistently better analgesia than 10 mg. morphine. This superiority of 15 mg. dezocine was statistically significant on the pain analogue scale at 1 to 4 hours. More morphine-treated than dezocine-treated patients withdrew from each study because of inadequate pain relief. The frequency of adverse effects was not significantly different between groups in either study and none of the patients had clinically significant changes in vital signs. These results indicate that dezocine is a safe and effective analgesic for the treatment of renal and ureteral colic due to calculi, and 15 mg. dezocine was more effective than 10 mg. morphine in this pain model.