Post-operative Pain Relief in Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy Using a Combination of Intraperitoneal Bupivacaine Morphine, Bupivacaine Fentanyl and Bupivacaine Ketamine: A Comparative Study

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is comparatively advantageous over open cholecystectomy in pain management with shorter duration of hospital stays. Pain management is medically pertinent for optimal care in surgical patients. Although development and advancement in understanding of the patho-physiology of pain, analgesics, pharmacology and the development of better effective techniques for post-operative pain control, patients still continue to experience considerable discomfort.

Laparotomy results in parietal pain, whereas laparoscopy has a visceral component, a somatic component and shoulder pain secondary to diaphragmatic irritation because of CO2 pneumo-peritoneum. Postoperative pain associated with laparoscopic cholecystectomy, although less severe and of shorter duration than that after open cholecystectomy, is still a source of marked discomfort and surgical stress. The degree of the pain after laparoscopic procedures has multifactorial influence including the volume of residual gas, type of gas used for pneumo-peritoneum, pressure created by the pneumo-peritoneum and insufflated gas temperature.

Local anesthetic infiltration of the incision sites decreases postoperative opiate requirement and improves subjective pain scores but does eliminate the pain.

Earlier scientists have also reported several beneficial effects of the intra-peritoneal application of bupivacaine with morphine on postoperative pain management after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.