The study was designed to evaluate the effect of preemptive use of oral gabapentin on postoperative wound and shoulder-tip path (STP) and fentanyl consumption alter laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Patients & Methods: The study comprised 90 patients -andomly assigned to receive oral 300 mg gabapentin (group G), 100 mg tramadol (group T) or a placebo (group P) two hours before surgery. After surgery wound pain was scored using a visual analogue scale (VAS), postoperative STP was assessed using verbal analogue pain scale (VrAS) and postoperative sedation was assessed using Ramsay sedation score. Duration of postoperative analgesia and total rescue fentanyl requirement were recorded. Results : At all times of follow-up, VAS scores showed significant (p < 0.05) decrease in groups T and G compared to group P. with a significant (p < 0.05) decrease of VAS scores determined in group G compared group T. Twenty patients had STP that scored significantly (p < 0.05) less in groups T and G in comparison to group P and in group G compared to group T. Duration of analgesia was significantly (p < 0.05) longer in group G and T in comparison to group P and in group G compared to group T. There was a significant (p < 0.05) increase of the dose of fentanyl consumed in group P compared to groups T and G. Sedation score and frequency were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in groups G and T compared to group P. with a non-significant difference in between groups T and G. Preemptive gabapentin significantly (p <0.05) reduced the frequency of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) compared to placebo, but non-significantly (p> 0.05) compared to tramadol that non-significantly (p> 0.05) reduced the frequency of PONV compared to placebo. Conclusion : It could be concluded that preemptive oral gabapentin significantly decreased the frequency and extent of wound and shoulder-tip pain and was associated with prolonged duration of postoperative analgesia and reduced consumption of rescue analgesics and PONV after laparoscopic cholecystectomy |
