Background and Objective: Pain is a common postoperative complaint, and the use of analgesics before surgical trauma can effectively prevent peripheral and central sensitization. We aimed to compare the preemptive effects of ibuprofen and celecoxib on post-operative pain after lower abdominal surgery in addicted patients.
Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial, after obtaining informed consent, 114 addicted patients undergoing lower abdominal surgery were randomly divided into three groups of 38. The first group was given a 200 mg dose of oral celecoxib, 400 mg of ibuprofen was orally administered to patients in the second group, and the third group was given starch powder as placebo by a nurse who prepared these drugs in the form of capsules. Postoperative pain was assessed by using a 10-cm ruler as the visual analogue scale at intervals of 1 and 6 hours after surgery. Postoperative opioid consumption was recorded in those periods. The obtained data were analyzed using the appropriate statistical tests in SPSS software.
Results: Mean pain scores at 1 hour after surgery were not significantly different across the three groups, whereas at 6 hours after surgery, pain scores were significantly lower in the ibuprofen and celecoxib groups in comparison to the placebo group (P=0.001 and P=0.005, respectively). Postoperative nausea and vomiting was not significantly different among the three groups.
Conclusion: Despite the significant difference in mean pain scores among the study groups, the opioid consumption doses were not significantly different among the groups. Thus, the preemptive prescription of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in addicted patient does not have any noticeable effects.