Comparison of inhaled methoxyflurane and injection of morphine/pethidine for pain relief operational injured patients

Pain among patients is prevalent and often remains untreated. On the other hand, given that military medicine is one of the main tasks of the Armed Forces Health, pain relief for battlefield wounded soldiers with non-narcotic medications or replacing the current narcotics with an effective non-addictive drug is necessary. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of inhaled methoxyflurane (Penthrox®) on pain control of injured patients and comparison it with injection of pethidine/morphine. In this experimental study, 71 wounded patients were included who were admitted to Nezaja hospitals in Tehran in 2009. To compare the effectiveness of medications standard pain scale (McGill) was used. Descriptive and comparison analyses were performed for data analysis. Totally, pain was treated with pethidine/morphine and penthrox® with in 41 and 30 patients, respectively. The results strongly indicate that penthrox® can easily be used for conscious injured battlefield patients without significant complications, but it had no a great help for their pain relief. In contrast, pethidine/morphine significantly reduced the pain of wounded patients. Penthrox® may not be an alternative to pethidine/morphine for pain relief among battlefield Wounded soldiers.