Effectiveness of Magnesium Sulfate for Post-Cesarean Pain Control: A Double-blind Clinical Trial

Background: The use of magnesium sulfate as a part of analgesia has been used in recent years. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effectiveness of magnesium sulfate in controlling pain after elective repeat cesarean section under spinal anesthesia. Materials and Methods: In this double-blind study, 78 women who were candidates for cesarean section were randomly selected and divided into two groups of control and intervention of 39 people. Before spinal anesthesia, in the intervention group was injected 50 mg/kg of magnesium sulfate intravenously, and in the control group was injected with the same volume of normal saline. Pain intensity was assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale at 6, 12, 18 and 24 hours after the surgery operation and was recorded in a checklist along with vital signs and possible complications. The results were statistically analyzed using version 25 SPSS statistical software. Result: There was no significant difference between the intervention and control groups in the presence of complications during recovery time and up to 24 hours after surgery (P<0.05). The pain score during the first 6 hours after surgery was equal to 8.56±1.51 in the intervention group and 8.21±1.15 in the control group. At 24 hours after surgery, this amount decreased to 4.23±1.08 in the intervention group and 4.49±0.79 in the control group. Although there was a difference in pain scores between the intervention and control groups up to 24 hours after surgery, this difference was not statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that the administration or non-administration of magnesium sulfate has no effect on increasing the time of postpartum analgesia and reducing the need for pethidine.