Middle East Journal of Cancer (Oct 2013)
Evaluation of the Effect of a Preoperative Single Dose of Gabapentin on Emergence Agitation in Patients Undergoing Breast Cancer Surgery
Abstract
Background: Emergence agitation is a transient confusional state that usuallyoccurs within 10 to 30 minutes of recovery from general anesthesia. It may lead to seriousconsequences and increasing hospital costs. This study evaluates the effect of gabapentinon emergence agitation in patients undergoing breast cancer surgery.Methods: This randomized, double blind controlled trial enrolled 100 femalepatients with American Society of Anesthesiologists' classifications I and II who werecandidates for breast cancer surgery. Patients were randomly assigned into two groups(n=50) that received either oral gabapentin 600 mg or placebo. Induction andmaintenance of anesthesia were similar in both groups. At the end of surgery, patient'sagitation score, pain score, and presence of nausea or vomiting were reported. In theward, the presence of headache or dizziness was checked during the first 8 h. Mann-Whitney test was used for comparison of agitation and pain scores between two groups.Chi-square test was used for comparing occurrence of nausea, vomiting and qualitative.The qualitative demographic variable and t-test compared quantitative demographicvariables.Results: There was a significantly lower incidence of emergence agitation in thegabapentin group before (P<0.001) and after (P=0.029) extubation. There weresignificantly lower mean agitation scores before (P<001) and after (P=0.006) extubationand in the pain score (P=0.005) in the gabapentin group. The need for remifentanilinfusion (P<0.05) during surgery was significantly lower in the gabapentin groupcompared with the placebo group. Occurrence of nausea and vomiting and gabapentinside effects that included headache or dizziness did not significantly differ between twogroups (P=0.126, P=1, P=0.629 respectively).Conclusion: Gabapentin not only decreased postoperative pain but also effectivelyreduced emergence agitation without any significant side effects in patients undergoingbreast cancer surgery.
