An effective treatment option for pain caused by urolithiasis: A
randomized-controlled trial of local active warming with heat-patch
Abstract
Background: There is growing interest in physical medicine treatment
options for renal colic. In this study, we aimed to determine whether or
not heat-patch treatment with no drug was effective in relieving renal
colic. Methods: For this purpose, patients who were diagnosed with renal
colic in the emergency department were randomized to have either
heat-patch or sham treatment. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores of
renal colic, body temperature (Btemp), and sub-patch skin temperature
(Stemp) values were measured at 0,15,30,45, and 60 min. In addition, the
salvage treatment needs of the groups were compared. Results: The
average age of the study group was30.5 ± 8.3 years and that of the sham
group was 31.0 ± 8.2 years (p = 0.75). According to the baseline VAS
score of the patients, 15, 30, 45, and 60min VAS scores significantly
decreased in the heat-patch group (p<0.001). The Btemp values
did not differ significantly between the heat-patch and sham groups. In
addition, no statistically significant difference was found between the
two groups in terms of Stemp values at 0 and 15 min (p = 0.39and p =
0.10, respectively). However, there was a significant difference in the
heat-patch group in terms of Stemp values at30, 45, and 60 min compared
to the sham group (p<0.001). The salvage treatment rates for
the heat-patch and sham groups were 11.5% and 31.4%, respectively (p =
0.01). Conclusion: As non-pharmaceutical treatment, the heat-patch has
been shown to be a possible candidate for pain relief in patients with
urolithiasis. Further research should concentrate on multicenter and
large-scale randomized studies.