Hysteroscopy under general anaesthesia, a near painless procedure

Anecdotally, hysteroscopy and curettage under general anaesthesia causes crampy postoperative pain. A randomised, double-blind trial to investigate whether intrauterine lignocaine could decrease such pain was initiated by us. At an interim analysis, the results of the study found that almost half of all women studied so far (n = 53) were completely painfree from the moment they awoke with no difference between placebo and treatment groups. Of the remainder, most rated pain as either 'mild', or less. For most women, hysteroscopy, dilatation and curettage causes either none or very little pain postoperatively.