Local anesthesia use for laparoscopic cholecystectomy

This study aimed to investigate the effects and timing of local anesthesia during laparoscopic surgery in terms of postoperative pain, nausea, and the need for opioids and antiemetics. This prospective study was carried out on 142 patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Peroperative local anesthesia was not administered to 53 patients (group A). The skin, subcutis, fascia, and parietal peritoneum were infiltrated with 0.5% bupivacaine HCl at trocar sites before trocar insertion in 46 patients (group B). Local anesthesia was given to 43 patients in equal doses at the same sites and the same manner at the end of surgery (group C). The higher requirement for analgesics in group A patients was statistically significant when compared with that in group B and C patients. The mean doses of analgesics postoperatively were significantly higher in group B than in group C. The time delay to the first antiemetics was significantly shorter in group A than in group C. Applying local anesthesia to the skin, subcutis, fascia, and parietal peritoneum through trocar sites reduces the postoperative analgesic requirement and pain intensity. This approach is more effective when applied at the end of an operation than at the start.