Discussion
Six days’ peri-operative pregabalin did not affect pain
or any other outcome during nine months after thoracoscopic
surgery.
Two meta-analyses reported no effect of pregabalin
on persistent postoperative pain [18, 19],
although individual trials have reported effects for prophylactic
pregabalin [26–28]. The first reported that
24 h’ pregabalin reduced pain three months after lumbar
discectomy [26]. The second reported that 14 days’
pregabalin reduced neuropathic pain at 3 and
6 months after knee arthroplasty [27]. The last
reported that pregabalin reduced pain for two days
and three months after cardiac surgery [28]. We
excluded patients with chronic pain. The studies that
reported an effect of pregabalin recruited participants
who were in pain before surgery; pregabalin may prevent
existing pain escalating but might not affect pain
caused by surgery alone [29]. Although we planned
our analgesic regimen in 2006, it remains similar to
current treatments [30] and our follow-up was sufficient
to characterise the presence of persistent pain
[31]. Our study may have been improved by giving
pregabalin for longer. We may have shown an effect of
pregabalin if we had included patients with pre-operative
pain.
A third of our participants reported persistent pain
with deep breathing at three postoperative months,
most of whom also had significant pain earlier, supporting
the idea that inadequately controlled acute
pain predisposes to persistent pain [32, 33]. Persistent
pain after thoracoscopic surgery might be limited by
pre-operatively identifying vulnerable patients – who
have multiple factors associated with persistent pain –
and using interventions that are effective for preventing
pain after thoracotomy. In addition, patients who
experience severe acute pain after thoracoscopy might
be treated with similar interventions.
In conclusion, six days’ of peri-operative pregabalin
did not reduce pain, quality of recovery and
overall health status during nine months’ after videoassisted
thoracoscopic surgery. Future research should
consider giving pregabalin for longer and might concentrate
on patients who have pre-operative risk factors
for persistent pain and those who report acute
severe postoperative pain.
Acknowledgements
The authors also wish to acknowledge the assistance of
Professor Paul Myles with the statistical analysis.
Competing interests
This study was supported, in part, by an investigatorinitiated
research grant provided by Pfizer pharmaceuticals.
Pfizer pharmaceuticals (New York, NY, USA)
donated the pregabalin and placebo study drug, but
they had no role in the design, conduct and analysis of
the tria