Relief Efficacy of Lidocaine Versus Morphine for Acute Renal Colic in the Emergency Department

Starting soon · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Renal Colic, Kidney Stones, Urolithiasis, Hypocitraturia, Opioid Use During Medical Care

In brief

The opioid epidemic continues to be a major public health crisis in the United States. According to the Center for Disease Control, approximately 8 million Americans reported misusing prescription opioids in 2023, with over 5 million Americans reporting that they suffer from opioid use disorder. The United States government estimates that 105,000 people died from drug overdose in 2023, and approximately 80,000 of those deaths can be attributed to opioids (\~76%). In acknowledgement of the opioid crisis, we wish to contribute to ongoing efforts to reduce unnecessary and excessive opioid prescription. In 2012, researchers in Iran published a randomized controlled trial comparing intravenous (IV) lidocaine to IV morphine for acute renal colic, reporting that 90% patients responded "successfully" in the lidocaine group versus 70% in the morphine group. They also concluded that there was a statistically significant difference between pain scores between the two groups at all time points, favoring the lidocaine group. However, the study was conducted at a single emergency department in Tabriz, Iran, with a relatively homogenous patient population, and the researchers did not explicitly define their primary outcome variable for what constituted a "successful" response in the treatment groups. The investigators of this study aim to build upon this preliminary evidence by recruiting a more diverse population to improve generalizability and by predefining pain-reduction thresholds to allow for more meaningful comparison between the interventions.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT07536594

Run by

Loma Linda University

People needed

250

Starts

2026-06-01

Expected to finish

2028-06-01

Last updated by the study team

2026-04-17

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• In order to be eligible for inclusion in the study, an individual must meet all of the following criteria:
• Age ≥ 18 years at time of visit
• Able and willing to consent for participation in study
• Documentation of suspected renal colic as primary complaint as evidenced by reported flank pain, back pain, abdominal pain, or groin pain, or as determined by the treating clinician
• Requires additional treatment due to inadequate analgesia or clinical suspicion of unsafe discharge secondary to pain after initial treatment with parenteral ketorolac

You may not qualify if…

• Any individual who meets any of the following criteria will be excluded from participation in this study:
• Age < 18 years
• Use of analgesia for renal colic within 6 hours prior to clinician evaluation
• Inability or unwillingness to consent for participation in study
• Experienced a severe adverse event that required clinician intervention after initial treatment with parenteral ketorolac
• Documented history of allergic or anaphylactic reaction to NSAIDs, lidocaine, or morphine
• Documented history of cardiac arrhythmias
• Documented history of chronic use of opioid medications for unrelated diagnoses
• Currently pregnant
• Documented history of end-stage renal or hepatic dysfunction
• Clinical contraindications to NSAIDs, lidocaine, or morphine per clinician discretion

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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