Pregabalin is now widely used clinically as an analgesic. Thus its impact on postoperative pain in patients undergoing cardiac surgery was assessed in a recent study.

Literature was searched for eligible studies which assessed total morphine consumption at 24 h, intraoperative fentanyl consumption, postoperative extubation time, and length of stay in hospital. 

7 trials with 463 patients were included. The pregabalin group showed significantly lesser total morphine consumption at 24 h than the control group. The pregabalin group showed a significantly shorter length of stay in the hospital than the control group. However, no significant difference was noted between the two groups in intraoperative fentanyl consumption and extubation time.

Thus, Oral pregabalin can be effectively used in cardiac surgery patients to reduce the patients 24-hour morphine consumption after surgery, and shorten the patients hospital stay. Additionally, it helps in early postoperative recovery.

Source: Biomed Res Int. 2021; 2021: 8835891. Published online 2021 Mar 3. doi: 10.1155/2021/8835891