ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) causes considerable postoperative pain. This study investigated the analgesic effects of gabapentin on postoperative pain in patients undergoing unilateral TKA in Mongolia. METHODS: The study randomly assigned 95 patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status class 1–3 scheduled for unilateral TKA into two groups. The treatment group (n = 49) was given gabapentin 600 mg 2 h preoperatively and gabapentin 300 mg in the evening for 3 days postoperatively. The control group (n = 46) was given identical looking placebo capsules. Pain using a visual analogue scale (VAS) and postoperative nausea and vomiting were assessed every hour postoperatively for 6 h and then every 3 h for the next 72 h. The total consumption of fentanyl in both groups was recorded at 24 and 48 h postoperatively. RESULTS: The very low VAS scores in both groups did not differ significantly. Patients in the treatment group used less fentanyl on the second day (P = 0.001). The incidence of nausea and vomiting were similar in both groups, except for the low incidence of nausea in the treatment group in the first 6 h postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: Perioperative gabapentin may be a component of a multimodal analgesia method because it reduced fentanyl consumption in patients who underwent TKA. However, the overall low VAS scores do not allow any firm conclusions.