Pre- and intraoperative lidocaine injection for preemptive analgesics in laparoscopic gastrectomy: a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

BACKGROUND

The preemptive intravenous injection of local anesthetics is known to improve postoperative pains in abdominal surgery. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of intravenous lidocaine injection and analyze the precise amount of pain by computerized patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) in patients who had undergone laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A double-blind placebo control study was designed, and 34 patients undergoing LADG for early gastric cancer were divided into two groups. Preoperatively and throughout the surgery, Group I received intravenous lidocaine injection, and Group C received normal saline injection for placebo. Postoperative outcomes, including the visual analog scale (VAS), the button hit counts (BHC) from PCA, and amount of fentanyl consumed, were measured.

RESULTS

The demographic data were similar between the groups. The VAS score, BHC, and fentanyl consumption were lower in Group I compared with Group C (P<.05). In particular, fentanyl consumption and BHC in Group I showed a significant decrease during the first 12 hours of the study (P<.05). Postoperative adverse events showed no difference except that nausea was more frequent in the placebo group (P=.039).

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, intravenous lidocaine injection showed a significant reduction in fentanyl consumption and pain during the earlier postoperative time with more favorable outcomes.