None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Patients undergoing surgery usually experience some sort of pain post operatively. There are many drugs which can be taken to reduce or take away the pain. There are also different types of Anaesthetic procedures to help a patient who is in pain (such as an epidural for pain relief in childbirth). There have been recent advances in medicine which show that using several different types of pain medication is more effective used together and has fewer side effects such as nausea and vomiting, constipation and drowsiness. Also at this time, there is a theory that receiving pain relief just before an operation can help reduce the pain afterwards. Unfortunately for some patients the pain can be hard to control and it may bother them for some time (months or years) after the operation. We call this chronic pain and it is a common and difficult problem to manage. Previous experience has shown that using various pain medications is a useful approach to treating pain as there are many factors that can cause pain. It makes sense to use different medications to target the different pain pathways which are aggravated after surgery. Some pain relieving drugs have been found to have some unacceptable side effects. It has reduced the choice of medication that we can use to treat pain. We are proposing to use a drug that is commonly used for the treatment of chronic pain, Gabapentin. Gabapentin was first used for the treatment of seizures but it was quickly found to be useful in treating chronic pain. Gabapentin is licensed in Australia for treating pain and seizures. There have been some studies recently that have shown that it is helpful in treating immediate post operative pain (acute pain). As well as studying the effects of Gabapentin on post operative pain, we would also like to investigate whether continuing Gabapentin for 3 weeks after a thoracotomy helps prevent or reduces chronic pain.
Interventions
The participants who have been randomised to receive Gabapentin will receive 1,200 mg of gabapentin orally as a single dose one hour before surgery. Day one post operatively or when the patient is able to tolerate diet, they will receive 300mg of Gabapentin eight hourly orally. This regime will continue for three weeks. They will also receive whatever analgesic regime is determined appropriate by the treating anaesthetist.
Sponsors
Dr John Monagle
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Patients undergoing open thoracic surgery who are 18 years old or older and have an anticipated post operative stay of greater than twenty four hours.
Exclusion criteria
Patients who have a known hyper sensitvity to Gabapentin. Women who are pregnant or breast feeding. Patients who are currently using Gabapentin. Patients who have chronic renal insufficiency (pre-operative creatinine level> 200 umol/L or are receiving dialysis. Patients with a history of chronic pain syndrome. patients currently using Cimetidine or regular antacids or have a history of epilepsy or seizures. Patients with a history of alcoholism or recreational drug use.
Outcome results
None listed