Perioperative administration of pregabalin in patients undergoing arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: does it help to relieve postoperative pain?

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the analgesic effect of perioperative administration of pregabalin in patients undergoing arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Fifty-six patients were randomly assigned to receive either pregabalin 75 mg or a matching placebo, one hour prior to spinal anesthesia, with the second dose repeated 12 hours after the first dose in this comparative study. The means of postoperative pain intensity measured by a verbal rating scale (VRS) of 0 to 10, sedation score of 0 to 3, requirement for morphine using a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) device, and the median respiratory rate, as well as adverse effect were recorded every four-hour up to 24 hours. RESULTS: Twenty-seven patients received pregabalin, and 29 cases got placebo. Characteristics were not significantly different between the two groups, except for the ages of 29.3 years in the pregabalin group, and 33.8 years in the placebo group. The means of postoperative pain severity, sedation score, consumption of PCA morphine, median respiratory rate, and adverse effects were not significantly different between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Perioperative administration of pregabalin was not superior to placebo in terms of reducing postoperative pain intensity and PCA morphine requirement in patients undergoing arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.