Open AccessThe Effectiveness of Pregabalin on Tonsillectomy Pain
Author(s) -
Hyun Kim Dong
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
otolaryngology–head and neck surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.232
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1097-6817
pISSN - 0194-5998
DOI - 10.1177/0194599812451426a180
Subject(s) - pregabalin , medicine , anesthesia , ketorolac tromethamine , fentanyl , tonsillectomy , placebo , premedication , analgesic , ketorolac , surgery , alternative medicine , pathology
Objective This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of premedication using pregabalin on postoperative pain control in patients undergoing tonsillectomy. Method Fifty adult patients were randomly divided into a control group and a pregabalin group. Patients in the control group received an oral placebo preoperatively, while those in the pregabalin group received an oral dose of pregabalin preoperatively. All participants were provided with patient controlled analgesia using fentanyl for 24 hours after surgery. The total amount of fentanyl injected and the number of injections of ketorolac tromethamine (30 mg each) requested by each of group was then compared. Pain assessment was performed using a visual analog scale during resting periods (rVAS) and during swallowing (sVAS) for 7 days after the operation. Results The number of ketorolac tromethamine injections and total amount of fentanyl injected decreased significantly in the pregabalin group ( P <. 01). The sVAS of the pregabalin group was significantly lower than that of the control group throughout the postoperative 24 hours. But, there were no significant differences in the sVAS observed between the 2 groups after 24 hours of the postoperative period. The rVAS of the pregabalin group was significantly lower than that of the control group at 2.8 hours after surgery but there were no significant differences in the rVAS observed between the 2 groups for the remainder of the postoperative period. Conclusion The addition of pregabalin prior to tonsillectomy may have an adjunctive role in pain control.