Preventing Pain After Heart Surgery

Prospective, Double-blinded, Randomised, Placebo Controlled Trial of Pre-emptive Analgesia to Prevent Pain Following Sternotomy for Cardiac Surgery.

The use of pre-emptive analgesia to prevent pain following sternotomy for cardiac surgery

Inclusion Criteria:

• Informed Consent
• First time sternotomy for all cardiac surgery
• Patient aged 18 - 80 years

Exclusion Criteria:

• Emergency surgery (decision to operate taken on the day of surgery)
• Previous sternotomy
• Preoperative renal failure (eGFR <60 ml/min)
• History of chronic non-anginal pain
• Chronic pain medication other than paracetamol and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
• Concurrent use of oxycodone, lorazepam, or ethanol.
• Concurrent use of any drugs for neuropathic pain e.g. antiepileptics, antidepressants
• Allergy to pregabalin, gabapentin or ketamine
• Pregnancy
• Limited understanding of numerical scoring scales
• Previous participation in other trials investigating analgesic agents or any IMP in previous three months