Reduction of Acute Postoperative Pain With Pre-Emptive Pregabalin Following Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Pregabalin has been considered to be a safe treatment for neuropathic pain. Owing to the lack of research regarding the use of pregabalin in the management of pain in under-resourced settings, our study aimed to deduce the effectiveness of a pre-emptive single dose of pregabalin pre-operatively to provide pain relief after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Treating acute pain is essential to avoid an increased hospital stay. There is a need for non-opioid drugs with lower risks to avoid using opioids, which lead to many side effects. Methodology Patients diagnosed with cholelithiasis and scheduled to undergo laparoscopic cholecystectomy at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital were included in this study. The study aimed to determine whether the effect of pregabalin in combination with patient-controlled analgesia can decrease pain scores. This was a double-blind study where patients, caregivers, and analysts were blinded to group allocation and drugs administered until the data was recorded and sealed. The patients were divided into pregabalin and placebo groups through a web-based model; blocks of four were used and stratification was employed at the center. A confidence interval of 95% was considered significant. Results In our study, a total number of 60 patients were included. They were randomly divided by a computer-based model into two groups, the pregabalin group, and the control group. The placebo group had 33 patients while the pregabalin group had 27 patients. The pregabalin group was given a pregabalin tablet of 150 mg before surgery while the placebo group was given an identical-looking placebo. Patient-controlled analgesia was started in both groups and the visual analog scale (VAS) scoring was observed postoperatively. The pregabalin group had a decreased incidence of pain as compared to the placebo group. There were no significant side effects during the trial; episodes of vomiting were managed using intravenous ondansetron. Conclusion Pregabalin is effective in reducing pain in an acute postoperative period when compared with a placebo. Patients who were pre-emptively administered pregabalin reported decreased VAS as compared to the placebo. However, both were inefficient in reducing postoperative nausea and vomiting.