The Efficacy of Curcumin Patch as an Adjuvant Therapeutic Agent in Managing Acute Orofacial Pain on the Post-Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate Surgery Patients: A Pragmatic Trial

Abstract

Objective Acute pain is one of the most common pains experienced by post-cleft lip or cleft surgery patients regardless of the administration of analgesic agents. This current study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a curcumin patch as an adjuvant analgesic agent on the post-cleft lip and cleft palate surgery patients. Materials and Methods Fifty-five (33 male; 22 female) participants aged 36 months or less are recruited in this pragmatic trial and randomly assigned to a control group, where no curcumin patch was applied; or the experimental group, where the participants wore a curcumin patch with a dosage of 100mg. All participants (regardless of the group) received a standardized postsurgery analgesic agent immediately after the surgery was completed. A face, leg, activity, cry, and consolability (FLACC) scale was used to evaluate pain levels for three subsequent time points. Statistical Analysis All data were then analyzed by using the Mann–Whitney U test to compare the mean differences between the two groups. Results The results of the current study revealed that there was no significant difference found between the control and the experimental group when mean pain scores were compared for the first evaluation time. Yet, there was a significant difference (p<0.01) between the two groups' mean pain scores on the second evaluation time. Conclusion Curcumin patch was found to be effective when used as an adjuvant analgesic agent to reduce acute-orofacial postsurgery pain in cleft lip and cleft surgery patients.