Effect of Oral Gabapentin Premedication on Post-Operative Pain in Pediatric Patient Undergoing Adenotonsillectomy

Abstract

Background: Tonsillectomy is one of the most common surgical procedures performed in otorhinolaryngology. Postoperative pain following tonsillectomy, which is especially aggravated by swallowing, can lead to various complications, such as impairment of food intake, possible dehydration, sleep disturbance and increased risk of secondary hemorrhage. Objectives: The current study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of oral Gabapentin in decreasing the postoperative pain in pediatric patient undergoing tonsillectomy in the first 0,2,12 24 hours post‐operative. Patients and Methods: Type of study: Prospective randomized control study, study setting: Ain Shams university hospitals, Study period: 3 months from December 2018 to February 2019, Patients were divided randomly into two groups, each group consists of 25 patients: Group A: Patients in this group received oral Gabapentin dose according to body weight (20mg/kg) at 0,2,12,24hrs post operative, Group B: Patients in this group received oral paracetamol as analgesics (10‐15mg/kg every 12hours). Results: The mean age of our study population was around7.2in group A and 7.08 in group B years. This study showed no statisticaly significance differance between group A and B regarding age. The mean body weight of the study was around27.79 for group A and 28.68 for group B.This study showed no statisticaly significance differance between group A and B regarding body weight. The mean HR of group A was lower than group B mean HR. The study shows statistically highly significant reduction of group A post operative heart rate compared to group B. The mean blood pressure of group A was lower than group B mean blood pressure. The study shows statistically highly significant reduction of group A postoperative blood pressure compared to group B. The median VAS score of group A was lower then group B. This study showed statisticaly significance reduction of VAS pain score post operative in group A compared to group B. The median analgesic rescue doses of group A was 2 and for group B was 3.5 so there was a statisticaly significance increase in rescue analgesia use in group B compared with group A.