Background: Postoperative pain is the primary reason for prolonged hospital stay after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. This study compared the effect of a single oral preoperative administration of paracetamol (1 g) with 2 different doses of pregabalin (150 or 300 mg) for attenuating postoperative pain and analgesic consumption.
Materials and methods: Seventy-five patients, aged 18-60 years, American Society of Anesthesiologists' physical status I and II undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy were included in this randomized controlled study. Patients were divided into three groups, 25 each to receive either oral paracetamol 1 g (group I, control group) or pregabalin 150 (group II) or 300 mg (group III), 2 h before surgery. Postoperative pain was evaluated based on visual analog scale over a period of 6 h and 1(st) time for rescue analgesia. Postoperative sedation, hemodynamic changes, serum cortisol level, and side effects were also evaluated.
Results: There was a significant decrease in mean heart rate, mean systolic blood pressure, sedation score, pain score, and delayed the first request for analgesics postoperatively in group (II) and group (III) compared to group (I) 2 h postoperatively. There was no significant difference in group (III) compared to group (II) postoperatively. The incidence of postoperative side effects was more in group (III).
Conclusion: The single oral preoperative dose administration of pregabalin had significant opioid-sparing effect in the first 6 h after surgery, whereas side effects were more common with administration of pregabalin 300 mg.
Keywords: Analgesia; cholecystectomy; pain; paracetamol; pregabalin.