Comparison of two preoperative doses of pregabalin for attenuation of postoperative pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: Pregabalin is a novel drug used as an adjunct to multimodal analgesia for reducing post-operative pain. We aimed to compare the efficacy and side effects of two different pre-emptive doses of pregabalin (75 mg vs. 150 mg) for attenuation of postoperative pain following laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective randomized study where 70 patients planned for elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) were enrolled and received a pre-emptive dose of oral pregabalin. Group A received 75 mg and Group B received 150 mg of Pregabalin (PGB) 1 hour before surgery. Assessment of static and dynamic pain was done at 0, 0-4, 4-8, 8-12, 12-16, 16-24 hours post-surgery using Visual Analog Scale (VAS) Score. Adverse effects like postoperative nausea and vomiting (0-6 hr), headache, sedation, and respiratory depression (0-24 hr) were assessed at regular intervals. Results: There was no significant difference in static and dynamic pain perception at different timed intervals between the two groups. Even the total analgesic requirement in both groups was comparable. The incidence of Postoperative Nausea Vomiting (PONV) (p-value 0.04) and headache (P-value 0.034) were statistically significant in Group B when compared to Group A. Conclusion: Preemptive PGB (75 mg) had a lesser incidence of PONV and headache. Therefore, from our results, we can conclude that a lower dose of PGB has lesser adverse effects, although the analgesic effects are comparable.