Comparison of the Efficacy of Pregabalin and Gabapentin for Preemptive Analgesia in Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy Patients: A Randomised Double-Blind Study

Introduction Preemptive analgesia is now an essential step of perioperative pain management. Pregabalin and gabapentin, which are drugs primarily used in the treatment of neuropathic pain, are now being contemplated for use as preemptive analgesics. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of gabapentin and pregabalin as preemptive analgesics. The primary objective of the study was to compare pregabalin and gabapentin versus placebo with regard to a visual analogue scale (VAS) score for postoperative pain for 24 hours, time to first rescue analgesia, and total analgesic consumption over 24 hours. The level of sedation with the help of a modified Ramsay sedation score was also compared. Methods This randomised, double-blind study was conducted on 90 patients aged 18-60 years of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I and II undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anaesthesia at a tertiary health care institute. The patients were randomly divided into three groups of 30 each, namely, Group A (gabapentin - oral two capsules of 300 mg gabapentin), Group B (pregabalin - oral two capsules of 150 mg pregabalin), and Group C (placebo - oral two capsules). The various parameters that were recorded in both groups included a VAS score for pain, total dose of tramadol consumed in 24 hours, modified Ramsay sedation scores in the immediate postoperative period, and adverse effects related to the study drugs (at zero and one hour and two, four, six, 12, and 24 hours). The data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) (version 25; IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Armonk, NY) software. Results VAS scores were significantly lower in groups A and B when compared to Group C. However, the scores were comparable in Group A (gabapentin) and Group B (pregabalin). The difference in the mean time of rescue analgesia was statistically highly significant when Group A (gabapentin) was compared with Group C (placebo) (P value<0.001) and when Group B (pregabalin) was compared with Group C (placebo) (P value<0.001). Thus, gabapentin and pregabalin provide a longer postoperative pain-free period (382.6 min and 502.3 min, respectively) when compared to the placebo group (137.8 min). Moreover, the mean dose of tramadol consumption in 24 hours was significantly lower in pregabalin (170 mg) and gabapentin groups (176.7 mg) when compared to the placebo group (286.7 mg). However, there was no significant difference in the total tramadol consumption between the gabapentin and pregabalin groups. The level of sedation up to six hours postoperatively was higher in Group B (pregabalin) and Group A (gabapentin) patients compared to Group C (placebo). On comparing the mean Ramsay sedation scores of Group A (gabapentin) versus Group C (placebo) and Group B (pregabalin) versus Group C (placebo), it was found that there was a highly significant difference at zero and one-hour time intervals (P value<0.001 in both comparisons). Conclusion A single preoperative dose of pregabalin 300 mg or gabapentin 600 mg can be used for effective preemptive analgesia in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy.