Khan JS, et al. - Considering the prior literature suggesting the possible efficacy of intravenous lidocaine and perioperative pregabalin in preventing persistent pain after surgery despite insufficient evidence supporting any preventative strategy, researchers sought to ascertain whether it is feasible to conduct a larger definitive trial via performing a multicenter 2 × 2 factorial, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial of 100 female patients undergoing breast cancer surgery. They randomized patients to receive an intraoperative lidocaine infusion (1.5mg/kg bolus followed by 2 mg/kg/h) or placebo and perioperative pregabalin (300mg preoperatively, 75mg twice daily for 9 days) or placebo. Outcomes revealed decreased development of persistent neuropathic pain with lidocaine despite it did not interact with pregabalin. No change in the incidence of persistent pain after surgery was observed with perioperative pregabalin. Acute pain scores or opioid consumption did not alter significantly with either of the intervention. This pilot trial successfully established the feasibility of conducting a larger trial and yielded promising data suggesting a possible utility of these interventions in decreasing the development of persistent pain.