Diclofenac patch: a better alternative to injectable diclofenac in postoperative pain management

Background: Pain management in immediate postoperative period is an extremely important but herculean task. As oral medication is not possible at this stage, it is injectable analgesia which is put to task. In countries like India, where efficacy and cost both count, intramuscular diclofenac is the most commonly employed analgesic. It is painful and full of side effects. As ideal analgesic is still an illusion, so search for it comes out with some option which is better than the existing ones. Methods: In a similar effort we compared the analgesic effects of diclofenac transdermal patch (100mg)-Nupatch and diclofenac intramuscular injection (75 mg) in the management of post-operative pain in terms of efficacy, duration, quality of analgesia on visual analogue scale and adverse effects of both in short term use. Results: It was concluded that if applied with proper planning, diclofenac patch was as effective as diclofenac injection but at the same time administration of patch is devoid of pain, local side effects, drug destruction by stomach & digestive enzymes and first pass metabolism in liver. Conclusions: Inspite of so many advantages being offered by patch, its use in routine practice is not so common. Probably it is due to lack of awareness and a mental inertia to accept a new concept among medical professionals. This issue needs to be addressed by continuous usage of it by the people who are familiar with its use and popularising it among others.