• Saeed Khademi, Fariborz Ghaffarpasand, Hamid Reza Heiran, and Arshak Asefi.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran.
• Med Princ Pract. 2010 Jan 1; 19 (1): 57-60.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of gabapentin on the incidence and severity of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) after open cholecystectomy.Subjects And MethodsA total of 90 patients scheduled for elective open cholecystectomy were randomly assigned to either a gabapentin group (600 mg, 2 h before surgery) or a placebo group. For the analysis, 1 patient was excluded from the gabapentin group and 2 patients from the placebo group. A standard technique was used for anesthesia. Pethidine and metoclopramide were used for postoperative management of pain and nausea/vomiting, respectively. The prevalence of PONV, its severity (measured on visual analogue scale, VAS), and total pethidine and metoclopramide use in the first 24 h after the operation were recorded.ResultsThere were no demographic differences between the two groups. Of the 44 patients given gabapentin, 16 (36.6%) and 28 of 43 (65.2%) placebo patients developed PONV; the difference was statistically significant (p = 0.02). However, there was no difference in the severity of PONV between the gabapentin and placebo groups (p = 0.12). Gabapentin patients used less pethidine (28.33 +/- 129 mg) and metoclopramide (6.0 +/-6.3 mg) than the placebo group (35.1 +/- 15.1 and 9.33 +/- 7.1 mg, respectively). The differences were statistically significant (pethidine: p = 0.002, metoclopramide: p = 0.033). However, gabapentin did not reduce postoperative pain significantly (p = 0.096).ConclusionOur data show that gabapentin not only reduced PONV after open cholecystectomy, but also reduced the need for additional postoperative analgesics.Copyright 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.

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