Background and Goal of Study: This prospective randomized double-blind placebo-control study was designed to investigate if oral premedication with gabapentin could improve the postoperative pain control after abdominal hysterectomy via Pfannenstiel incision. 
Materials and methods: After Ethics Committee approval and written consent, 64 ASA I-III women, scheduled for abdominal hysterectomy under general anaesthesia were recruited.They were randomly allocated into two groups: group G (n=30) receiving 1200mg oral gabapentin one hour before surgery and group P (n=34) treated with placebo. Postoperative analgesia was achieved by morphine PCA (1mg bolus dose, 5 min lockout interval and 8 mg limit in 1h) and iv paracetamol (1g/6h). During first 48h postoperatively pain at rest and while coughing, evaluated by VAS at 1, 2, 4, 8, 24, 48h post-procedure, total morphine consumption and duration of pain-free interval were recorded. The incidence of sedation, nausea/vomiting and patient satisfaction with analgesia regimen were registered, too. Statistics used Student t-test and Mann-Whitney test with significance above 0.05. 
Results and discussion: Demographics was similar in both groups. Pain intensity at rest, as well as length of pain-free interval did not differ between the two groups. At cough, VAS registered significantly lower values in group G at each postoperative time (p< 0.05). Cumulative morphine consumption until 48h postoperatively was significantly less in group G compared to group P (p< 0.001). Lower incidences of sedation and nausea/vomiting were noted in group G (p< 0.05). Patient satisfaction recorded a considerably increased rate for group G versus group P (p< 0.05).
Conclusion(s): Gabapentin premedication decreases considerably morphine consumption by PCA and the incidence of correspondent side effects, thus improving quality of analgesia during first 48h after abdominal hysterectomy.

The effect of gabapentin premedication on postoperative pain management after abdominal hysterectomy