Evaluation of gabapentin as a pre-emptive analgesic for patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty

INTERVENTION: This is a prospective, randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled study to compare total morphine consumption between the pre‐emptive gabapentin, the postoperative gabapentin and the placebo groups. Patients will be randomly assigned to one of three treatment arms with 30 patients in each arm. Patients who are randomized to the preoperative gabapentin group will receive 600 mg orally (po) prior to surgery. The other two treatment arms will receive either placebo or gabapentin 600 mg 1 hour after their surgery is complete. CONDITION: Pre‐emptive pain medication/postoperative pain control ; Signs and Symptoms ; Pain PRIMARY OUTCOME: A comparison of the means of morphine consumption among the various treatment groups will be the primary outcome measure. SECONDARY OUTCOME: 1. Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for pain will be used (0 = no pain, 100 = terrible pain); 2. Presence of nausea, vomiting, pruritis, and dizziness will be monitored at the same time intervals, and all except the latter treated as per the Acute Pain Service Nausea and Vomiting algorithm INCLUSION CRITERIA: Upon obtaining informed consent, patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I and II, of both genders, scheduled for hip arthroplasty will be recruited for this double‐blinded, prospective, randomized, and placebo‐controlled study. Patients must also be 18?70 years of age.