A Randomized, Prospective Evaluation the Effect of Oral Pregabalin in Forearm Surgery with Infraclavicular Nerve Block

Abstract

Introduction:The infraclavicular block method has been increasingly used in hand, wrist, and forearm surgery in anesthesia practice. Although the infraclavicular block method provides appropriate postoperative analgesic effect, patients still suffer from postoperative pain at high rates. Opioids are widely used for postoperative analgesia. There are many studies showings that taking oral pregabalin before the operation reduces postoperative pain and opioid use. In this study, we investigated the effect of preoperative use of 150 mg oral pregabalin on infraclavicular sensory block duration and opioid use.Methods:Ethics committee approval and patient consents were obtained for the study. The study included 60 patients between the ages of 18 and 65 who would undergo an American Society of Anesthesiologists I-II hand, wrist or forearm surgery. The control group (group K) did not take medication before the operation. The pregabalin group (group P) took 150 mg of oral pregabalin an hour before the operation. Ultrasound-guided infraclavicular block was applied to both groups. Patients were observed for 24 hours per operatively and postoperatively in terms of analgesic medication needs and complications.Results:Postoperative analgesic use was observed to be higher in group K (p0.05). However, the sensory block completion time was statistically significantly longer in group P than in group K (p0.05).Conclusion:In this study, we concluded that a single dose of 150 mg oral pregabalin treatment applied before the operation prolongs the infraclavicular sensory block duration and reduces the need for analgesic drugs in the first 24 hours postoperatively.

Keywords

• infraclavicular block
• pregalabalin
• postoperative analgesia