Comparative study between paracetamol versus paracetamol and pregabalin combination for postoperative analgesia in hip surgeries

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Pregabalin has been used for treatment of chronic pain, but recently it has been introduced in treatment of acute postoperative pain. Aim of Study This study is conducted to evaluate the postoperative analgesic effect of paracetamol and pregabalin combination versus paracetamol after hip surgeries. Methods The study was done on 20 randomly chosen patients after approval of the medical ethical committee of Ain Shams University. Patients were divided randomly into two groups, each group consisted of 10 patients.After preoperative assessment and obtaining baseline vital data all patients received spinal anaesthesia. Group I received paracetamol 1gm intravenous immediately postoperatively and every 6 hours for 24 hours. Group II received the same as group I plus two doses of oral pregabalin 300mg in the recovery room and 12 hours later. The two groups were assessed postoperatively and they were compared regarding demographic data, postoperative pain control, sedation, total pethidine consumption, hemodynamics and side effects. Results In pregabalin group (group II), pain scores and total pethidine consumption were significantly lower and sedation scores were higher than group II. Heart rate and arterial blood pressure were lower in group II but without clinical significance. Conclusions This study revealed that combination of paracetamol and pregabalin as multimodal analgesia is better than paracetamol alone in postoperative analgesia, and decreasing use of opioids without significant effect on hemodynamics but with increased incidence of side effects such as somnolence, dizziness and blurred vision.