Effects of Single-Dose Preemptive Pregabalin and Intravenous Ibuprofen on Postoperative Opioid Consumption and Acute Pain after Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Purpose: Non-opioid medications as a part of multimodal analgesia has been increasingly suggested in the management of acute post-surgical pain. The present study was planned to compare the efficacy of the combination of pregabalin plus ?v ibuprofen. Methods: 58 patients were included in this prospective, randomized, double-blinded study. The pregabalin group (Group P, n = 29) received 150 mg pregabalin, the pregabalin plus ibuprofen group (Gropu PI, n = 29) received 150 mg pregabalin and 400mg ?v ibuprofen before surgery. Postoperative fentanyl consumption, additional analgesia requirements and PACU stay were recorded. Postoperative analgesia was performed with patient-controlled IV fentanyl. Results: VAS scores in the group PI were statistically lower at PACU, 1and 2 hours at rest, at PACU, 1, 2, 4, 12 and 24 hours on movement compared to the group P (P < 0.05). Opioid consumption was statistically significantly higher in the group P compared to the group PI (130.17 ± 60.27 vs 78.45 ± 60.40 μq, respectively, P < 0.001) and reduced in the 4th 24 hours by 55% in group PI. Rescue analgesia usage was statistically significantly higher in the group P than in the group PI (16/29 vs 7/29, respectively, P < 0.001). Four patient in the group PI did not need any opioid drug. Besides, PACU stay was shorter in the group PI than the group P (10.62 ± 2.38 vs 15.59 ± 2.11 min, respectively, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Preemptive pregabalin plus ?v ibuprofen in laparoscopic cholecystectomy reduced postoperative opioid consumption. This multimodal analgesic aproach generated lower pain scores in the postoperative period.