Intraperitoneal Ketamine Versus Fentanyl as Adjuvants to Bupivacaine in Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Overview

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the standard surgical treatment for gallbladder stones; however, the origin of pain after LC is multifactorial and complex in nature. Pain arising from incision sites is parietal pain, whereas pain from the gall bladder bed is mainly visceral in nature, and shoulder pain is mainly referred owing to the residual carbon dioxide irritating the diaphragm. Intraperitoneal administration of local anesthetics has been shown to improve postoperative pain control and reduce the need for systemic analgesics. The addition of adjuvant agents such as fentanyl or ketamine may further enhance analgesic efficacy. This randomized double-blind study aims to compare the effectiveness of intraperitoneal ketamine versus fentanyl as adjuvants to bupivacaine in reducing postoperative pain and analgesic requirements following laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is widely recognized as the gold standard for the treatment of gallbladder stones due to its significant advantages over the conventional open surgical approach. These benefits include faster postoperative recovery, reduced surgical morbidity, shorter hospital stay, and decreased postoperative pain. Despite these advantages, postoperative pain remains a major concern and is considered one of the primary factors affecting patient comfort and delaying discharge following surgery. Abdominal pain is usually most pronounced during the first 24 hours after the procedure, while shoulder pain commonly develops on the second postoperative day as a consequence of diaphragmatic irritation caused by residual carbon dioxide. Because postoperative pain after laparoscopic surgery is multifactorial in origin, a multimodal analgesic approach is widely recommended . Various strategies have been employed to improve pain control, including the use of local anesthetics administered alone or in combination with intraperitoneal opioid analgesics. Intraperitoneal (I.P.) administration of local anesthetics has become a popular and effective technique for postoperative pain management, as it can reduce the need for systemic analgesics and minimize the adverse effects associated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and opioids. This approach was first investigated in gynecological laparoscopic procedures and has since been extensively studied in patients undergoing LC. Several studies have demonstrated that the addition of adjuvants such as fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid, and ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist, may enhance and prolong postoperative analgesia. Consequently, intraperitoneal instillation of local anesthetics with adjuvant agents represents a simple, safe, and effective method for improving postoperative pain control following LC.