Effects of single-dose preemptive intravenous ibuprofen on postoperative opioid consumption and acute pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Although studies involving intravenous (IV) ibuprofen are still limited, it has been shown to have a potential role in the treatment of postoperative pain. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the effects of preemptive IV ibuprofen on postoperative 24 hour opioid consumption and postoperative pain in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Following ethical committee approval, 60 patients aged 18 to 65, American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) I-II, and scheduled for laparoscopic cholecystectomy were included in this prospective, randomized, double-blinded study. Patients were randomly divided into 1 of 2 groups. The control group (n = 30) received 100 mL saline solution 30 minutes before surgery, while the ibuprofen group (n = 30) received 400 mg IV ibuprofen in 100 mL saline. The same general anesthesia protocol was applied in both groups, and all operations were performed by the same surgeon using the same technique. Postoperative analgesia was assessed using a visual analogue pain scale (VAS) with active and passive movements. Twenty-four hour postoperative fentanyl consumption with patient-controlled analgesia and additional analgesia requirements were recorded. Postoperative analgesia was established with 1000 mg paracetamol once every 6 hours and patient-controlled IV fentanyl. Compared with the control group, VAS scores in the IV ibuprofen group were statistically lower at postoperative 30 minutes and 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, and 24 hours (P