A Randomized Placebo Controlled Study of Preoperative Pregabalin on Postcholecystectomy Pain Relief

There are studies that have demonstrated the role of pregabalin as a pre-emptic analgesic in the multimodal therapy for acute postoperative pain management.However, its use in more painful operative procedures like open cholecystectomy are limited and hence the present study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of a single dose of preoperative oral pregabalin in attenuating the postoperative pain.In this randomized, controlled, prospective and double blind study, 80 patients (ASA I & II, aged 18-55 years and of both sexes) undergoing open cholecystectomy under GA were divided into two equal groups (n=40 each) to receive either oral pregabalin 150mg or placebo 1 hour before the surgery.Intraoperative hemodynamic variables, postoperative VAS scores, sedation scores, analgesic free time intervals, total dose of rescue analgesic, side effects etc. were recorded and compared for the first 24 hours postoperatively.VAS score distribution in the first 24 hours were significantly lower in the pregabalin group than the control group (P<0.05).The analgesia free time interval was longer and the number of rescue analgesic(inj.tramadol 50mg) was lesser in the pregabalin 150mg (P<.05).Preoperative pregabalin 150 mg administered 1 hour prior to surgery attenuates the postoperative pain thereby reducing opioid consumption.