Comparing the Effectiveness of Oral Celecoxib with Oral Tramadol as Pre-Emptive Analgesia in Ambulatory Surgery

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Nociception pathway is thought to be pre-emptively inhibited in hope to reduce acute pain in an anticipated procedural related tissue injury intraoperatively or postoperatively when pre-emptive analgesics are administered preoperatively. High intensity of pain is expected after surgical removal of the third molar which is associated with jaw swelling and limited opening of the jaw. We compared the pre-emptive analgesia effect of oral celecoxib and oral tramadol in elective ambulatory dental surgery under general anaesthesia. Informed consents were obtained from 84 patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I or II and aged between 18 to 56 years. They were randomised to receive either oral celecoxib 200 mg (Group A) or oral tramadol 50 mg (Group B) one hour before induction of anaesthesia. Intraoperative and postoperative fentanyl consumption were compared. Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), ranging from 1 to 10, was used to assess postoperative pain scores. Group A showed a significant reduction in fentanyl consumption intraoperatively compared to Group B (p=0.047). Both groups of patients experienced mild pain at various times assessed postoperatively ranging between 0-2 NRS scores. Comparison between the groups did not detect significant reduction in pain scores and postoperative fentanyl consumption. We concluded that neither medication was found to be effective as pre-emptive analgesia, however, intraoperative fentanyl consumption was reduced by pre-emptive administration of oral celecoxib.