Preoperative multimodal analgesia facilitates recovery after ambulatory laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Laparoscopy approach to cholecystectomy has shortened the recovery period, reducing discharge times from 1 to 3 days to same-day discharge. We hypothesize that the use of more than one modality to prevent postoperative pain may be more efficacious than single modality. Patients were randomized to a treatment (n = 24) or control (n = 25) group and studied using a prospective, double-blind design. Preoperatively, at 45 min before induction of anesthesia, the treatment group received an intramuscular (IM) bolus injection of meperidine 0.6 mg/kg and ketorolac 0.5 mg/kg. The control group received two bolus IM injections of placebo (normal saline). Ten minutes before incision, local anesthesia (treatment group) or saline (control group) was infiltrated into the skin of each patient. Anesthetic management, postoperative pain, and nausea treatment were standardized. Pain and nausea assessment were done 1 h preoperatively, 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, and 4 h postoperatively, at discharge, and 10, 24, and 48 h postoperatively. Patients were discharged by scoring criteria. Postoperatively, significantly more patients in the treatment group were without pain on arrival in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU), 12/21 (57.1%) vs 1/24 (4.2%) in the control group (P < 0.001). Similarly, the severity of pain was sixfold less in the treatment group than in the control group. The incidence of nausea in the PACU was significantly less in the treatment group; 4.7% vs 29.5% in the control group (P < 0.05). Patients from the treatment group satisfied Postanesthesia Discharge Score significantly earlier than those in the control group (281 +/- 12 min vs 375 +/- 19 min; P < 005). The concomitant use of local anesthetic and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory and opioid drugs proved to be highly effective in our patients, resulting in faster recovery and discharge.