Preoperative Celecoxib effect on postoperative pain management in patients undergoingleg surgery: A randomized clinical trial

Background: Preoperative pain management is an important aspect for anesthetists. Using analgesics before the surgery can delay pain feeling and analgesic request by patients. We compared the effectiveness and priority of single dose 400 mg celecoxib, over two doses of 200 mg celecoxib in patients undergoing leg surgery.
Methods: We performed a double blind randomized controlled trial on 60 undergoing elective leg surgery. The patients were randomly classified into three groups of A: 400 mg celecoxib in two divided doses (200 mg each dose), B: 400 mg celecoxib single dose, and C: placebo. Pain after the surgery was scored according to visual analogue rating scale, on recovery and in 2 – 4 - 6 hours after recovery. The time to ask rescue medication was also recorded.
Results: There were not any significant difference between the studied groups regarding age, gender, surgical duration and VAS in 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 6th hours after surgery. The time lag for opium demand after surgery was longest (18.1 ± 15.8 vs. 20.4 ± 10.8 and 21.5 ± 8.4), and the used opium was lowest in the one dose 400 mg celecoxib group (196.5 ± 121 vs. 127.5 ± 68 and 122.7 ± 44) than in others (P value= 0.023).
Conclusion: We used tolerability and clinical significant of single dose 400 mg celecoxib in the postoperative pain management in leg surgery. It was more effective than two doses celecoxib 200 mg in postoperative pain control and postponing the time for rescue medicine need by the patients.