Comparison of bupivacaine and parecoxib for postoperative pain relief after laparoscopic cholecystectomy: a randomized controlled trial.

Lin, Shengping; Hua, Jie; Xu, Bin; Yang, Tingsong; He, Zhigang; Xu, Chenglei; Meng, Hongbo; Zhou, Bo; Song, Zhenshun

BACKGROUND Pain is the most common complaint of patients on the first day after laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of local anesthesia with bupivacaine and intravenous parecoxib on postoperative abdominal pain relief up to 24 h after surgery. METHODS One hundred and eighty patients who underwent LC were randomized to one of three groups with sixty patients each: Group A received 50 mg 0.5% bupivacaine subcutaneously at trocar sites before incision closure; Group B received intravenous parecoxib (40 mg) after entering the recovery room; Group C did not receive postoperative analgesia unless needed and was served as control. The postoperative pain at 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, and 24 h after the operation was assessed using a visual analog scale (VAS). Secondary outcomes, including intraoperative and postoperative complications, the incidence of shoulder pain, pethidine requirements, postoperative nausea and vomiting, and hospital stay were also recorded. RESULTS At 1, 2, and 4 hours after surgery, VAS pain scores were significantly lower in group A and B compared with group C (P < 0.05 for all). There was no significant difference among the three groups at 8, 12, and 24 hours after the procedure (P > 0.05 for all). A repeated-measures ANOVA analysis revealed that VAS pain scores over the first 24 hours after LC were significantly lower in group A and B compared with group C (P = 0.014 and P = 0.029 for between-group comparison, respectively). Furthermore, the percentage of patients requiring postoperative rescue analgesics was significantly higher in group C as compared with group A and group B (P = 0.018). CONCLUSION Local anesthesia with bupivacaine and intravenous parecoxib are both effective at decreasing postoperative pain and pethidine requirements after LC.