Intravenous morphine titration as a rapid and efficient analgesia for adult patients with femoral shaft fractures after injury

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the analgesic effects of intravenous ibuprofen and intravenous morphine titration for femoral shaft fractures in adult patients. In total, 293 participants were enrolled and randomly received intravenous ibuprofen or intravenous morphine titration. Their visual analogue scale (VAS) results were recorded every 5 minutes after the first administration. The VAS scores before and during transport were also measured. Meanwhile, the type and frequency of the adverse effects were also recorded in both groups. Patients treated with morphine showed a faster and greater reduction in the VAS than those in the ibuprofen group within 1 hour after the first administration. Interestingly, intravenous morphine titration provided consistent analgesia even during the further transport. No significant immediate adverse event was observed in all of the participants, except for sedation, which might be beneficial for keeping the patient quiet and might not be arbitrarily attributed to adverse effects. No addiction was noted in the morphine group. This study demonstrated that intravenous morphine titration is a faster and more efficient analgesia for femoral shaft fractures than ibuprofen in adult patients immediately after injury.