Active gas aspiration to reduce pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate to what effect active subdiaphragmatic gas aspiration reduces pain after a laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 104 patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy were randomly placed into 2 groups. Group I included active subdiaphragmatic gas aspiration (n=52) while group II included simple evacuation (n=52) without any additional procedures. Postoperative analgesic requirements were recorded and the level of postoperative abdominal and shoulder pain was assessed using a numeric scale after 24 postoperative hours. Data were analyzed using the χ test for nonparametric data and Student t test for parametric data.

RESULTS

Age, volume of CO2 used during surgery, and operation duration were similar in the 2 groups. The simple evacuation group (group II) experienced more shoulder and abdominal pain postoperatively when compared with the active subdiaphragmatic aspiration group (group I) and had a higher use of analgesics during the postoperative period.

CONCLUSIONS

Active subdiaphragmatic gas aspiration after a laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a simple procedure that can effectively reduce postoperative abdominal and shoulder pain and as a result the need for analgesics.