The Effect of Perioperative Systemic Lidocaine on Quality of Recovery After Cesarean Delivery

Pain after Cesarean delivery is a common occurrence on the labor and delivery unit. The increased use of neuraxial anesthesia has allowed the administration of neuraxial opioids to help with postoperative pain control. Many patients, however, still require IV and oral opioids in the post anesthesia recovery unit (PACU), and on the postpartum nursing floor. Post Cesarean delivery pain not only has the usual adverse effects common to all postoperative pain (i.e. increased risk for deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, coronary ischemia, pneumonia, poor wound healing, and psychological dysfunction) but also has the potential to adversely affect mother-baby bonding, time spent in skin-to-skin contact and success of initiating effective breastfeeding.

Systemic administration of lidocaine has been shown to decrease opioid consumption, improve recovery of bowel function and promote a better recovery after inpatient procedures. Lidocaine has been shown to have analgesic, antihyperalgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. It also has an excellent safety profile when given by a low-dose infusion.

Assessing a patient's quality of recovery has become an important outcome in several studies. The patient's capacity to return to her normal activities and effectively care for her newborn is one of the most important signs of a successful surgical procedure, and it has significant economic, sociological and psychological implications.

Quality of recovery -40(QoR-40) is a validated 40-item instrument to assess the quality of post-operative recovery (10). Myles et al. have concluded that the QoR-40 would be a useful outcome measure to assess the impact on changes in health care delivery, but anesthesia studies underutilize this instrument.

This study will evaluate the effect of perioperative systemic lidocaine in the postoperative quality of recovery of patients undergoing Cesarean delivery.