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CC BY 4.0 · VCOT Open 2023; 06(01): e1-e7
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1751069
Original Article

Evaluation of Gabapentin in the Treatment of Postoperative Pain after a Tibial Plateau Levelling Osteotomy in Dogs

Daniel Almeida
1   Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, University of Minnesota, College of Veterinary Medicine, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States
,
Erin Wendt-Hornickle
1   Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, University of Minnesota, College of Veterinary Medicine, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States
,
Michael G. Conzemius
1   Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, University of Minnesota, College of Veterinary Medicine, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States
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Abstract

Objective Pain management is an essential component of perioperative patient care. Multimodal pain management strategies have the potential to provide more effective analgesia than a single drug. The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of gabapentin as an adjuvant to carprofen for the management of postoperative pain following tibial plateau levelling osteotomy surgery.

Materials and Methods The study included 20 adult dogs with unilateral cranial cruciate ligament disease, assigned to one of two postoperative treatment groups, receiving either carprofen (4.4 mg/kg orally every 24 hours) or carprofen plus gabapentin 20 mg/kg, orally, every 8 hours beginning the night prior to surgery and continuing for 14 days postoperatively. The patients were blindly assessed postoperatively using the Short Form of the Glasgow Composite Measure Pain Scale (GCMPS-SF) and limb function measured by pressure platform gait analysis. There was no difference in body weight, age, affected hindlimb or sex between groups.

Result No differences were found in (GCMPS-SF) pain assessments; after surgery, a (GCMPS-SF) more than or equal to 6 was documented in four dogs (two dogs in each group) and no dog required rescue analgesia more than once.

Conclusion In this population of dogs, the addition of oral gabapentin at the dose and frequency studied did not improve subjective or objective outcome measures for perioperative pain control following tibial plateau levelling osteotomy surgery.

Keywords

analgesia - gabapentin - TPLO - dogs


Publication History

Received: 06 December 2021

Accepted: 29 April 2022

Article published online:
10 February 2023

© 2023. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany

 

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