Effect of Intraperitoneal Local Anesthetics in Laparoscopic Bariatric Surgery: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

OBJECTIVE

The effectiveness of intraperitoneal local anesthesia (IPLA) has been confirmed in other fields, but its use in bariatric surgery remains debatable. This study aimed to evaluate the analgesic effect of IPLA in bariatric surgery.

METHODS

PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched from inception to February 2022. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing IPLA's analgesic effect in bariatric surgery were included in this study. Pain-related indicators were the outcome.

RESULTS

Ten RCTs with 979 patients were included. Postoperative pain scores were significantly lower in IPLA group. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that IPLA was associated with lower pain scores in 6 h and at 24 h compared to the control group, without significant differences at 8, 12, and 48 h. Meanwhile, IPLA reduced the dose of opioids taken postoperatively. Additionally, there were no differences in adverse events between the two groups. As far as the number of postoperative analgesics used and hospital stays were concerned, our results did not show statistical differences between the two groups.

CONCLUSION

IPLA can reduce postoperative pain safely and effectively, particularly during the early postoperative stage.