Efficacy of Oral Gabapentin and Intravenous Paracetamol for Postoperative Analgesia in Laparoscopic Surgeries: A Prospective Randomised Double Blind Study

Post-operative pain is a matter of great concern for anaesthesiologists and surgeons. We compared the efficacy of oral Gabapentin and intravenous Paracetamol for postoperative analgesia in patients undergoing laparoscopic surgeries.

After obtaining written informed consent and ethical committee approval, a total of 70 patients undergoing laporoscopic surgeries were randomly allocated into two groups- 35 patients included in Group A were given 600 mg oral Gabapentin 2 hours before the surgery and Group B patients were given 1gm I.V. PCM 30 minutes before the surgery.  The NRS scores at 30 min, 2 hours, 6 hours, 8 hours, 12 hours, and 24 hours were recorded. The time at which first rescue analgesic given and Different hemodynamic parameters like heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation were also recorded at different time intervals.

NRS scores and MAP was higher in Group B with a significant p-value at 8 and 12 hours. The need of first rescue analgesic required was at 7.79±3.49 hours in Group A. In Group B requirement of first rescue analgesia was at 6.09±2.75 hrs. The total dose of tramadol used was significantly higher in Group B with mean 92.86±36.67 than Group A 64.29±28.62 with statistically significant p-value (p=0.001).

Both oral Gabapentin and intravenous Paracetamol are effective modes of postoperative analgesia hence both can be used as preemptive analgesic agents. Oral Gabapentin has a longer duration of action up to 12 hours in the postoperative period while intravenous Paracetamol is effective up to 6 hours postoperatively.