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Background: A considerable number of patients require opioids during recovery after laparoscopic sterilization. This implies nausea, dizziness and sedation and increases the number of unplanned admissions. Gabapentin has shown excellent postoperative analgesic effect in a number of recent studies with few side effects. This study was designed to test whether gabapentin given preoperatively can reduce the number of patients needing morphine in the recovery period., Methods: 80 females scheduled for laparoscopic sterilization using Filshie clips were randomized to two treatment groups (Gaba group and control group). All patients received lornoxicam 8 mg p.o. 30 min. before the procedure. Patients in the Gaba group received gabapentin 1200 mg p.o. and patients in the control group received placebo capsules prior to the procedure. All patients were anesthetized according to a protocol, using remifentanil and propofol. Postoperative analgesia was obtained with patient controlled infusion of morphine. Pain, nausea, dizziness and sedation were scored at 2 and 4 hours after end of anesthesia. The expenditure of morphine was the primary measure for the effect of analgesia and the number of patients demanding morphine was the primary endpoint., Results: Three patients were excluded because of procedural errors and one because of conversion to open surgery. 38 patients completed the study in each group.32 (84%) patients in the gabapentin group and 37 (97%) patients in the control group did require morphine in the recovery period. (p = 0,049). There was no significant difference between mean morphine consumption, pain scores and frequency of adverse effects (nausea, dizziness, sedation and vomiting), Conclusion: The postoperative analgesic effect of gabapentin given preoperatively was confirmed in this study. For this procedure, with pain predominantly in the immediate recovery period, and of less intensity than after major surgical procedures, the effect demonstrated is much less pronounced than in similar studies of major surgery. General use of gabapentin as analgesic for laparoscopic sterilization is not supported by this study., Trial Registration: Current Controlled Trials ISCRTN39209275.

Background: Despite the widespread use of paracetamol for many years, the analgesic serum concentrations of paracetamol are unknown. Therefore the correlation between serum paracetamol concentrations and the analgesic effect was studied., Methods: Sixty-four women undergoing laparoscopic sterilization were included in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study. Patients were given i.v. propacetamol 40 mg kg(-1) (group H), 20 mg kg(-1) (group I), 10 mg kg(-1) (group L) or placebo after surgery. Alfentanil was available via patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) during the 4-h postoperative study period. The patients' self-reported pain was registered on the visual analog scale (VAS). A pharmacokinetic model was fitted to the paracetamol data., Results: One to 3 h after injection of propacetamol the alfentanil consumption was significantly (P = 0.01-0.04) higher in the placebo group compared with groups H, I, and L receiving propacetamol. There were no significant differences between the amounts of alfentanil consumed in groups H, I, and L. Initial VAS-scores were moderate (5.4-6.2), and declined significantly (P < 0.0001) over time, with no difference between groups. Paracetamol followed an open two-compartment model with i.v. administration and first order elimination. The estimated concentrations immediately (t = 0) after injection were 56 mg l(-1) (H), 28 mg l(-1) (I) and 14 mg l(-1) (L)., Conclusion: We showed a significant opioid-sparing effect of paracetamol in the immediate postoperative period. Pharmacokinetic data were in accordance with other studies. Our results suggest that a ceiling effect of paracetamol may be present at i.v. doses of 5 mg kg(-1), i.e. a serum concentration of 14 mg l(-1), which is a lower dose than previously suggested., (Copyright Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica 47 (2003))