Intravenous Lidocaine for Hepatectomy

Liver resection is increasingly performed for hepatic tumors, mainly primary liver cancers and resectable metastases, but also for some benign lesions. Postoperative pain is often significant, regardless of the surgical technique, making effective pain control essential to promote early mobilization and reduce complications.

Current standard care relies on multimodal analgesia, combining several drugs administered during surgery, with morphine administered as rescue therapy when required. Morphine is associated with side effects such as nausea, vomiting, ileus, hypoxemia, opioid-induced hyperalgesia, and transient cognitive impairment. Therefore, there is a need to optimize pain management while reducing opioid consumption and related adverse effects.

Intravenous (IV) lidocaine has well-documented anti-inflammatory effects and is effective against neuropathic pain. Several studies have shown that intravenous lidocaine may be associated with improved analgesia, reduced opioid consumption, shorter hospital stay, and decreased postoperative ileus, nausea, and vomiting-particularly in abdominal and genitourinary surgeries. Therefore, Intravenous (IV) lidocaine may be a valuable alternative for postoperative pain management after liver surgery.

National guidelines now recommend perioperative Intravenous (IV) lidocaine for abdominal surgeries but its efficacy in liver surgery has not yet been established due to a lack of specific evidence (more specific data are needed). Findings from other types of abdominal surgery suggest a potential benefit, which should be confirmed by dedicated clinical trials and robust multicenter evaluation such as the ILHEP protocol.

The goal of this clinical trial is to assess the effect of intravenous perioperative lidocaine on postoperative opioid related-side effects and to formally confirm the safety of lidocaine during hepatic surgical procedures. The hypothesis is that Intravenous (IV) lidocaine compared with placebo (a look-alike substance that contains no drug e.g. a saline solution) would improve postoperative outcome by reducing opioid related side-effects in patients undergoing liver surgery and benefitting of the same baseline analgesia.

In the context of this trial, patients will receive either intravenous lidocaine or placebo according to their assigned randomization group during standardized general anesthesia, and will then be followed throughout their hospital stay until discharge or up to a maximum of 28 days.

An ancillary study will be conducted in patients enrolled at the coordinating center in Rennes to assess exposure to lidocaine during intravenous administration and to evaluate the relationship between blood concentrations and adverse events.