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

Overview

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.

Detailed Description Laparoscopic abdominal surgery is widely performed because it is associated with reduced surgical trauma, shorter hospital stays, and faster recovery compared with open procedures. Despite these advantages, postoperative pain remains a significant concern. Pain after laparoscopy is multifactorial, resulting from trocar insertion, tissue manipulation, and pneumoperitoneum. Although multimodal analgesia is routinely employed, optimal management of trocar-site pain remains uncertain. Local infiltration of surgical incision sites with long-acting local anesthetics such as bupivacaine has been proposed as a simple and inexpensive method of reducing postoperative pain and opioid requirements. However, published randomized trials have reported inconsistent findings regarding the magnitude of benefit, and variations in infiltration technique, timing, and dosage have limited the establishment of standardized recommendations. Additional prospective randomized studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention in different clinical settings. This single-center prospective randomized controlled trial will be conducted in the Department of General Surgery, Allied Hospital, Faisalabad. Adult patients undergoing elective laparoscopic abdominal surgery will be randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to receive either pre-incisional infiltration of diluted bupivacaine at planned trocar insertion sites or no local anesthetic infiltration. All participants will receive the institution's standard perioperative management and postoperative analgesic protocol. The study aims to determine whether pre-incisional local bupivacaine infiltration provides superior postoperative pain control during the first 24 hours after laparoscopic abdominal surgery. Pain intensity will be assessed using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), while opioid consumption and time to first rescue analgesia will be evaluated as secondary measures of analgesic efficacy. The findings may help clarify the role of local anesthetic infiltration as part of multimodal postoperative pain management and contribute evidence to guide clinical practice in patients undergoing laparoscopic abdominal surgery.