• Brett Doleman, David Read, Jonathan N Lund, and John P Williams.
• From the Division of Medical Sciences and Graduate Entry Medicine, University of Nottingham, Derby, United Kingdom.
• Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2015 Nov 1; 40 (6): 706-12.

Background And ObjectivesPreventive analgesia has been proposed as a potential strategy to reduce postoperative pain. However, there is currently no review that focuses on acetaminophen for preventive analgesia.MethodsWe conducted a search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cinahl, AMED, and CENTRAL databases identifying randomized controlled trials that compared preventive acetaminophen with postincision acetaminophen.ResultsSeven studies with 544 participants were included. Overall, the studies showed a reduction in 24-hour opioid consumption (standardized mean difference [SMD] of -0.52; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], -0.98 to -0.06), lower pain scores at 1 hour (MD, -0.50; 95% CI, -0.98 to -0.02) and 2 hours (MD, -0.34; 95% CI, -0.67 to -0.01), and a lower incidence of postoperative vomiting (risk ratio, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.31-0.83) in the preventive acetaminophen group. Current studies are limited by a potential risk of bias.ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this is the first review to describe a potential preventive effect of acetaminophen. However, well-conducted randomized controlled trials are necessary to substantiate the conclusions of this review.

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