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- Title
Effectiveness of gabapentin as a postoperative analgesic in children undergoing appendectomy.
- Authors
Baxter, Katherine J.; Hafling, Jennifer; Sterner, Jennifer; Patel, Adarsh U.; Giannopoulos, Helen; Heiss, Kurt F.; Raval, Mehul V.
- Abstract
<bold>Purpose: </bold>Though gabapentin is increasingly used as a perioperative analgesic, data regarding effectiveness in children are limited. The purpose of this study was to evaluate gabapentin as a postoperative analgesic in children undergoing appendectomy.<bold>Methods: </bold>A 12-month retrospective review of children undergoing appendectomy was performed at a two-hospital children's institution. Patients receiving gabapentin (GP) were matched (1:2) with patients who did not receive gabapentin (NG) based on age, sex and appendicitis severity. Outcome measures included postoperative opioid use, pain scores, and revisits/readmissions.<bold>Results: </bold>We matched 29 (33.3%) GP patients with 58 (66.6%) NG patients (n = 87). The GP group required significantly less postoperative opioids than the NG group (0.034 mg morphine equivalents/kg (ME/kg) vs. 0.106 ME/kg, p < 0.01). Groups had similar lengths of time from operation to pain scores ≤ 3 (GP 12.21 vs. NG 17.01 h, p = 0.23). GP and NG had similar rates of revisit to the emergency department (13.8 vs. 10.3%, p = 0.73), readmission (6.9 vs. 1.7%, p = 0.26), and revisits secondary to surgical pain (3.4 vs. 3.4%, p = 1.00).<bold>Conclusion: </bold>In this single-center, retrospective cohort study, gabapentin is associated with a reduction in total postoperative opioid use in children with appendicitis. While promising, further prospective validation of clinical effectiveness is needed.
- Subjects
GABAPENTIN; DRUG efficacy; APPENDECTOMY; ABDOMINAL surgery; OPIOID analgesics; PEDIATRIC surgery; THERAPEUTICS; AMINES; APPENDICITIS; GABA; POSTOPERATIVE pain; RETROSPECTIVE studies; CARBOCYCLIC acids; NONOPIOID analgesics
- Publication
Pediatric Surgery International, 2018, Vol 34, Issue 7, p769
- ISSN
0179-0358
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1007/s00383-018-4274-9