Pregabalin trumps Gabapentin as superior pain relief option after orthopaedic surgery

As per the outcomes of a randomized controlled trial published in Anesthesiology Research and Practice, the comparative efficacy of oral Gabapentin and Pregabalin in mitigating postoperative pain following orthopaedic surgery on the upper limb was explored.

This study involved 80 patients scheduled for elective orthopaedic procedures on various upper limb segments. They were randomized to receive either Pregabalin 150 mg capsule one hour before surgery, or Gabapentin 300 mg capsule two hours before the surgery. Standard monitoring was conducted before and through the surgery, with pain assessed in the post-anaesthesia care unit and after 6 and 12 hours of the surgery via the visual analogue scale (VAS) scoring.

Both medications led to reductions in pain scores over time. However, the rate of reduction in the Pregabalin group considerably surpassed that of the Gabapentin group. Specifically, mean pain scores with 95% confidence intervals (CI) at 4 intervals were noted (Table 1):

Given the utmost importance of post-surgical management of pain, studies analyzing pain levels following different surgeries and assessing the impact of different drug doses over time are imperative.