Postoperative Gabapentin to Prevent Postoperative Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial

BACKGROUND: Gabapentin is an anticonvulsant that has postoperative analgesic effects but there are limited studies on its postoperative administration. OBJECTIVES: The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the postoperative oral gabapentin on pain and morphine consumption. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a double blind, randomized study, 64 patients undergoing internal fixation of tibia under spinal anesthesia were randomly assigned to receive oral gabapentin or placebo immediately after the surgery. Pain scores were recorded at time points of 2, 12 and 24 hours postoperatively using visual analog scale (VAS). Time duration from the end of surgery until morphine administration and total morphine requirement in the first 24 hours were recorded. RESULTS: The estimated duration of surgeries was 120-150 minutes. VAS score was not significantly different between the two groups at 2, 12 and 24 hours after surgery. There was no significant morphine consumption difference between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed no significant analgesic efficacy of oral gabapentin 300 mg immediately after tibia internal fixation surgery under spinal anesthesia at time points of 2, 12 and 24 hours postoperatively.