RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Due to the presence of postoperative pain in patients undergoing anorectal surgery, and since the pain affects the quality of life of patients, we aimed to compare the analgesic effectiveness of oral magnesium with oral ketorolac to choose the right analgesic drug for these patients. METHODS: This study was a double-blind, randomized clinical trial performed on 104 candidates undergoing anorectal surgery. Patients were randomly divided into two groups. Group 1 received oral magnesium (250 mg daily), and group 2 received oral ketorolac (10 mg daily). The medicine was given to the patient 2 hours after the operation and every 12 hours for 10 days. Pain measurements were recorded at 24-hour intervals after surgery based on the visual analog scale and numerical rating scale. RESULTS: This study found that postoperative pain was reduced in patients taking magnesium tablets, similar to the ketorolac group. A similar decreasing trend was observed in the group receiving ketorolac; however, the reduction was more pronounced in the magnesium group and was statistically significant on days 1, 3, and 5 (p < 0.001). However, insignificant differences were noted between the two groups on the seventh (p = 0.093) and tenth (p = 0.088) postoperative days. CONCLUSION: Taking magnesium tablets after surgery has a suitable analgesic effect, which is similar to oral ketorolac tablets from the fifth day onwards, but in the initial days, it is less effective than ketorolac statistically.