Comparison of Postoperative Analgesic Effect of Magnesium Sulfate and Gabapentin in Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Considering the importance of pain management using effective medicines, the present study aimed to compare the analgesic effect of magnesium sulfate and gabapentin on postoperative pain in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

The present randomized clinical trial study was conducted on patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the operating room of Ayatollah Mousavi Hospital in Zanjan in 2019. The patients were assigned to three groups of 30 using the block randomization method. One group received 50 mg/kg of magnesium sulfate in 100 ml of normal saline within 1 h during the operation, the second group received 600 mg of gabapentin capsule 1 h before the operation, and the third group did not receive any additional medicines. The overall opioid dose, the time of the first analgesic request, and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS ), 6, 12, 18, and 24 h postoperatively were compared in the three groups using repeated measures of ANOVA.

Based on the results, there was not a significant difference among the three groups in terms of gender and age (P>0.05). Moreover, the three groups t significantly differ in pain and drug dose received (P<0.001). The results of the Tukey post hoc test demonstrated that the pain and drug dose received in the control group was significantly higher than those in both intervention groups (P<0.001). Nonetheless, this difference between the two groups of magnesium sulfate and gabapentin was not statistically significant (P>0.05).

As evidenced by the obtained results, in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy, gabapentin and magnesium sulfate significantly reduced pain intensity and the need to use drugs; however, there was no significant difference between the two drugs.