Clinical assessment and risk stratification for prehospital use of methoxyflurane versus standard analgesia in adult patients with trauma pain
Hany Zaki1
, Süha Türkmen1,4, Aftab Azad1, Khalid Bashir2, Amr Elmoheen1, Eman Shaban3, Haris Iftikhar1, Nabil Shallik4
1Department of Emergency Medicine, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
2Department of Clinical Academic, College of Medicine, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
3Al Jufairi Diagnosis and Treatment, Doha, Qatar
4College of Medicine, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
Keywords: Analgesic, emergency, methoxyflurane, prehospital, traumatic pain
Abstract
Oligoanalgesia, the undertreatment of trauma related pain using standard analgesics in prehospital and emergency departments, has been extensively documented as one of the major challenges affecting the effective treatment of trauma related pain. When administered in low doses, methoxyflurane has been highlighted by numerous medical works of literature to provide an effective, nonopioid, nonnarcotic treatment alternative to standard analgesics for prehospital and emergency department use. Low dose methoxyflurane has been associated with fast pain relief in adult patients manifesting moderate to severe pain symptoms. This systematic review and meta analysis aimed to assess the clinical implication of low dose methoxyflurane use in prehospital and emergency departments in adult patients with moderate to severe trauma related pain. Moreover, the review aimed at assessing the risk stratification associated with using low dose methoxyflurane in prehospital and emergency departments. The systematic review and meta analysis performed a comprehensive search for pertinent literature assessing the implications and risks of using low dose methoxyflurane in adult patients exhibiting moderate to severe trauma related pain in prehospital settings. A comparison between the use of low dose methoxyflurane and standard of care analgesics, placebo, in prehospital settings was reported in four clinically conducted randomized controlled trials (RCTs). These RCTs included the STOP! trial, InMEDIATE, MEDIATA, and the PenASAP trials. A meta analysis comparing the time taken to achieve first pain relief on initial treatment of patients with moderate to severe trauma related pain favored the use of low dose methoxyflurane to the standard of care analgesics (mean difference = −6.63, 95% confidence interval = −7.37, −5.09) on time taken to establish effective pain relief. Low dose methoxyflurane has been associated with superior and faster pain relief in prehospital and emergency departments in adult patients exhibiting moderate to severe trauma related pain compared to other standard analgesics.
How to cite this article: Zaki H, Türkmen S, Azad A, Bashir K, Elmoheen A, Shaban E, et al. Clinical assessment and risk stratification for prehospital use of methoxyflurane versus standard analgesia in adult patients with trauma pain. Turk J Emerg Med 2023;23:65-74.
Zaki Hany, Bashir Khalid, Elmoheen Amr, Shaban Eman, Iftikhar Haris; Conceptualization – Data curation – Formal analysis – Investigation – Methodology.
Zaki Hany, Turkmen Suha, Azad Aftab, Shaban Eman, Iftikhar Haris, Shallik Nabil; Software – Supervision – Validation – Visualization – Writing – original draft – Writing –review and editing.
None declared.
None.
We verify and confirm that everyone who contributed to this manuscript is either listed as an author or acknowledged as a contributor in the acknowledgment section, and that the title page details any professional writing assistance or others paid to provide manuscript support.