Efficacy of Preemptive Analgesia on Tourniquet and Postoperative Pain Relief in Open Carpal Tunnel Release: A Prospective Randomized Control Trial.

PURPOSE: Preemptive analgesia has been used to reduce postsurgery pain and improve patient satisfaction. The effectiveness of multimodal preemptive analgesia in open carpal tunnel release under local anesthetic with a tourniquet is still debated. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of preemptive analgesia on the postoperative tourniquet site and the surgical site.

METHODS: A total of 44 patients were randomly assigned to one of 2 groups. An experimental group was given 300 mg of gabapentin, 200 mg of celecoxib, and 500 mg of acetaminophen 2 hours before surgery. Placebos were given to the control group. All surgeries were done under local anesthetic by a specialist hand surgeon. A tourniquet was inflated to the recommended pressure. The outcomes included the immediate postoperative tourniquet site pain scores, surgical site pain scores (at 1, 6, 12, 18, and 24 hours after surgery), and acetaminophen consumption in the first 48 hours.

RESULTS: The immediate postoperative tourniquet site pain score in the experimental group was significantly lower than in the placebo group. Although the surgical site pain score in the experimental group was significantly lower than the placebo group at 1, 6, 12, and 18 hours after surgery, these differences were not clinically significant. In addition, there was no statistically significant difference in surgical site pain score at 24 hours after surgery. The amount of acetaminophen consumed during the first 48 hours after surgery was significantly lower in the experimental group than in the placebo group.

CONCLUSIONS: Multimodal preemptive analgesia effectively reduced immediate postoperative pain at the tourniquet site in open carpal tunnel release. It also reduced postoperative acetaminophen consumption.

TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic II.