Yan, P.Z., Butler, P.M., Kurowski, D., & Perloff, M.D. (2014). Beyond neuropathic pain: Gabapentin use in cancer pain and perioperative pain. The Clinical Journal of Pain, 30, 613–629.
APPLICATIONS: Pediatrics, elder care, and palliative care
Gabapentin was found to be effective in reducing pain and the use of analgesics when used perioperatively for otolaryngology, orthopedic, abdominal, and pelvic surgeries as well as mastectomies. There was scant efficacy noted following cardiothoracic surgery. Studies of cancer-related pain management regimens that included gabapentin demonstrated a substantial outcome, which included mild to moderate pain relief with increased efficacy noted in patients with neuropathic pain as well as cancer-related pain.
Gabapentin was proved to be therapeutic as an adjuvant treatment for cancer-related pain. The authors found multiple studies concluding that gabapentin was effective as part of an analgesic regimen for cancer-related pain. They also effectively described the results of double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled research supporting the conclusion in favor of the perioperative use of gabapentin as an adjuvant analgesic.
The articles that were reviewed incorporated disproportionately more patients with breast, lung, and colorectal cancers.
Nurses are in a position to gather additional data and contribute to research, providing more evidence to support the use of gabapentin as an adjuvant analgesic as a part of an effective procedure in the case of perioperative pain. Nurses also are in a position to provide efficient research reviews of studies that evaluate the effect of gabapentin.