Effect of pregabalin and dexamethasone on early postseptoplasty clinical outcome

Introduction The most common question asked by patients prepared for a septoplasty operationpertains to the amount of pain they will experience after the surgery. Also, nasal packing and/or splints used make the postoperative period extremely unpleasant. Intraoperative septal bleeding and early hematoma, nausea, and vomiting are some of the most frequent early complications of septoplasty. It has been hypothesized that multimodal analgesia with different mechanisms of action may reduce or even prevent postoperative pain and other complications. We investigated the effect of pregabalin and dexamethasone in combination with paracetamol on early clinical outcome afterseptoplasty. Patients and methods Sixty patients were randomly assigned to three groups: group A(paracetamol + placebo), group B (paracetamol + pregabalin), and group C (paracetamol + pregabalin + dexamethasone). The medication was administered preoperatively. General anesthesia was induced and operative data were recorded as field visibility, bleeding, and duration of operation. The visual analogue scale (VAS) was recorded for 24 h after the operation. Morphine consumption, adverse effects such as nausea, vomiting, sedation, dizziness, and ondansetron consumption wererecorded (P 0.05 was considered statistically significant). Results The duration of operation in the three groups showed no significant difference. However, the main total field visibility was lower in the pregabalin group. Higher bleeding scores were recorded in group B. Postoperative morphine consumption and incidence of nausea and vomiting were decreased significantly in groups B and C(P≤0.05) in comparison with group A. Conclusion We concluded that the combination of paracetamol and pregabalin with dexamethasone reduced overall pain scores, ondansetron and morphine consumption, and the incidence of nausea and vomiting in patients after septoplasty.