Effect of adding celecoxib to a single dose of gabapentin on postoperative pain relief

Background: In recent years, several studies with conflicting results have been done on the role of gabapentin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in pre-emptive analgesia to control postoperative pain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of adding low doses of celecoxib to gabapentin on increasing the analgesic effect and patients’ satisfaction.

Methods: In this double-blind randomized clinical trial, 130 patients with ASA I, II class were divided in two groups as they were the candidates for elective inguinal hernia surgery with spinal anesthesia. Before the surgery, the control group (G) received 300 mg oral dose of gabapentin and the study group (GC) received 100 mg celecoxib in addition to the above dose. Severity of patients’ pain was measured using the visual analogue scale (VAS). By the same token, the amount of painkillers usedwas measured and statistically analyzed.

Results: The results suggested a statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of pain level 4, 6 and 24 hours after surgery (P<0.05). Adding low-dose of celeoxib to gabapentin before the surgery and the combination of these two drugs caused further reduction of pain 4, 6 and 24 h after the surgery in comparison to the administration of gabapentin alone.

Conclusion: Adding 100 mg celecoxib to 300 mg gabapentin resulted in a reduction of pain level 24 h after elective surgery of inguinal hernia in patients of control group (P<0.05). However, in terms of using painkillers (analgesics), there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups.