title: Effect of preoperative pregabalin on postoperative pain relief in thyroidectomy patients: A prospective observational study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Effective management of postoperative pain leads to increased patient satisfaction, earlier mobilization, reduced hospital stay and costs. One of the methods used for management of postoperative pain is preemptive analgesia-blockade of afferent nerve fibers before a painful stimulus. It modifies peripheral and central nervous system processing of noxious stimuli and reduces postoperative opioid consumption. In this study, we sought to determine whether the preoperative use of pregabalin reduced postoperative pain and morphine consumption in thyroidectomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  The observation was conducted on patients undergoing thyroidectomy surgery in two groups of 30 each. Of the two groups, one received a single oral dose of pregabalin 1 h preoperatively. Both the group of patients undergoes anesthesia in a similar manner. Following surgery the efficacy of the preoperative dose of pregabalin is observed by measuring the total opioid consumption 6 h postoperatively and assessing verbal numeric pain scales.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean time to request of rescue analgesia in pregabalin group was 322.07 ± 69.106 min when compared to morphine group 256.33 ± 111.978 min (P < 0.05). The mean pain scores in the postoperative period were also significantly lower in patients receiving pregabalin.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Single oral dose of pregabalin was effective in reducing acute postoperative pain in thyroidectomy patients. It prolongs the time to the request of rescue analgesia and also results in lower postoperative pain scores in the immediate postoperative period. However a statistically significant low opioid consumption could not be proved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care, Medical College, Thrissur, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bindu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care, Medical College, Thrissur, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: A Arun
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care, Medical College, Thrissur, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kesavan
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care, Medical College, Thrissur, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Varun
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Suresh
keywords: Preemptive analgesia; pregabalin; verbal numeric scores