One hundred and twenty-four patients undergoing total knee or hip arthroplasty under spinal anesthesia were randomly assigned to either group C (n = 31, placebo), group P (n = 33, pregabalin), group PD (n = 29, pregabalin and dexmedetomidine) or group D (n = 31, dexmedetomidine). One hour before spinal anesthesia, patients received pregabalin 150 mg or placebo orally and a bolus dose of 0.5 μg /kg IV dexmedetomidine was given over 10 min before induction of spinal anesthesia, followed by a continuous infusion of 0.5 μg/kg/hr or the same calculated volume of normal saline till completion of the surgery. Clinically relevant pain for 24 h after surgery including time to first analgesic request visual analog scale (VAS), ketorolac dose, and patient controlled analgesics (PCA) volume consumed were recorded.
Pregabalin and dexmedetomidine have been introduced to manage postoperative pain. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of the combination of two drugs on pain relief in patients undergoing total knee or hip arthroplasty under spinal anesthesia