Does bupivacaine in laparoscopic ports reduce postsurgery pain in tubal ligation by electrocoagulation? A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND

Tubal ligation (TL) is the most popular method of permanent contraception. In order to reduce postoperative pain, different analgesic techniques have been proposed. The objective of this study was to compare the level of postoperative pain in patients submitted to TL with electrocoagulation, under general anesthesia, using bupivacaine infiltration vs. placebo in trocar ports.

STUDY DESIGN

Consecutive patients scheduled for laparoscopic TL were randomized by sequenced coded envelopes to receive bupivacaine 0.5% (n=29) or placebo (n=24). Pain was blindly assessed at 15 min, 30 min, 120 min and 14 h postoperatively, by verbal analogue scale (VAS). Standard pain medications (morphine, dipyrone and sodium diclofenac) were prescribed for the subjects and compared between groups.

RESULTS

No difference in pain assessment was found between bupivacaine and placebo groups at all times [median (25-75 quartiles)] (all p>.05): 15 min: 3 (1-6.3) vs. 4 (0-7); 30 min: 1.5 (0-4.3) vs. 2 (0-5); 2 h: 0 (0-0.5) vs. 0 (0-1); 14 h: 1 (0-4) vs. 0 (0-4); and for use of analgesics: dipyrone (g): 1 (0-1) vs. 1 (0-1); morphine (mg): 3 (0-3) vs. 3 (0-3.5); sodium diclofenac (mg): 0 (0-50) vs. 0 (0-50).

CONCLUSION

The use of local injection of bupivacaine 0.5% in the trocar ports was not superior to placebo to reduce pain after laparoscopic TL with electrocoagulation under general anesthesia.