Effect of Local Anesthetic Infiltration for Postoperative Pain Control in Laparoscopic Abdominal Surgery: A Prospective Randomized Study

Brief Summary

Postoperative pain remains a common problem after laparoscopic abdominal surgery despite the minimally invasive nature of these procedures. Pain mainly arises from the trocar insertion sites, tissue manipulation, and the effects of pneumoperitoneum. Although systemic analgesics are routinely used, they may not provide adequate pain relief and can be associated with adverse effects.

This prospective randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate whether pre-incisional infiltration of bupivacaine at laparoscopic trocar insertion sites reduces postoperative pain compared with standard care without local anesthetic infiltration. A total of 166 adult patients undergoing elective laparoscopic abdominal surgery will be randomly assigned to receive either local bupivacaine infiltration before skin incision or no local anesthetic infiltration. All participants will receive the same standard perioperative care and postoperative analgesic regimen.

The primary outcome is postoperative pain intensity measured using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) during the first 24 hours after surgery. Secondary outcomes include the time to first rescue analgesic, total opioid consumption within the first 24 hours, and overall postoperative pain control. The results of this study may help determine whether local bupivacaine infiltration is an effective, simple, and low-cost addition to multimodal analgesia for patients undergoing laparoscopic abdominal surgery.