Effects of Single-Dose Pregabalin on Postoperative Pain in Dacryocystorhinostomy Surgery

Background: Postoperative pain of dacryocystorhinostomy (DCA) surgery is one of theserious issues to be considered. Administrating opioids to relieve postoperative painand facing their increasing side effects in eye surgeries, make the use of non-opioiddrugs inevitable.Objectives: The present study examined the efficacy of pregabalin in alleviating the postoperativepain of DCA surgery.Patients and Methods: The present study has been carried out as a double-blind, randomizedclinical trial on the patient candidates for DCR. The patients were randomly dividedin to two groups of pregabalin and placebo. Patients in pregabalin group received 300 mgof pregabalin, an hour before the operation in the morning of the surgery. Pain intensity onvisual analog scale (VAS) was recorded until 24 hours after the operation; also the rate of administratedopioids and nausea/vomiting frequency were recorded during the first 24-hourperiod after the operation and the resultsof the two groups were compared.Results: Postoperative pain intensity in the pregabalin group at the time of recovery wassignificantly lower than that of the placebo group (P = 0.001) until 24 hours after the surgery.In the pregabalin group 17.5% of the patients received opioids while in the placebogroup the figure was 52.5% (P = 0.001). Nausea frequency was also higher in the placebogroup than the pregabalin group (P = 0.003).Conclusions: A single 300 mg dose of pregabalin, an hour before DCA can effectivelyreduce pain intensity and also reduce opioid dose and nausea/vomiting