Abstract

Background: Pregabalin is a gamma aminobutyric acid analogous, which is commonly used for epilepsy, neuropathic pain and anxiety disorder. Moreover, it is becoming more commonly used for acute postoperative pain. The recent studies showed that preoperative use of pregabalin increases the duration of spinal anesthesia. Thus, we conducted a retrospective analysis to investigate whether preoperative pregabalin affect duration of spinal anesthesia in total knee arthroplasty.

Methods: 76 patients who underwent unilateral or bilateral total knee arthroplasty were included in the study. The patients were divided in two groups based on their preoperative use of pregabalin; Pregabalin Group (patients who took pregabalin (at least 150 mg/day) at home for osteoarthritis vs. Control Group (patients were not on any gabapentinoids (pregabalin or gabapentin)). Two cohorts were matched by age and gender. All patients received spinal anesthesia with 10 mg of isobaric 0.5% bupivacaine.

Results: There was no statistical difference in the time of sensory block reached to sixth thoracic dermatome in two groups. The duration of two segment regression from peak sensory block level in pregabalin group was significantly longer than control group (70 ± 22.4 min) vs. 40 ± 12.4 min, P = 0.0001). The entire duration of motor block was significantly longer in pregabalin group (200 ± 36.7min vs. 180 ± 26.5 min, P = 0.0001).

Conclusion: The duration of spinal anesthesia was longer in patients who took pregabalin as a home medication than patients who were not on this medication.

Keywords: Pregabalin; Spinal Block; Total Knee Arthroplasty

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