Abstract

ABSTRACT:
BACK GROUND:
Pain after abdominal incisions is responsible for many postoperative problems, especially pulmonary and thromboembolic complications. Although many analgesic drugs are available yet they have to be given systemically to be effective with a real danger of respiratory depression.
The use of local anesthetic drug infiltrated in the wound at the end of surgery is a logical solution .The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of local anesthesia in the control of postoperative pain
METHODS:
During the period January 2007 until December 2007 hundred and twelve patients had abdominal operations at Baghdad Teaching hospital .Patients were randomly allocated to two groups .Group (1) included 56 patients who had 10 ml bupivacaine infiltrated in the wound by a sub facial catheter before wound closure and Group (2) 56 patients had placebo injected (2 ml of normal saline).Visual analogue scale was used for post operative pain assessment
RESULTS:
There was a significant decrease in pain score and the requirement of the systemic analgesic in Group (1) during the 1st 24h after surgery as compared to Group (2) with (P. < 0.05) .The type of surgery which showed marked decrease in pain score were repair of hernia, open cholecystectomy and appendesectomy and was least obvious after midline incision.
CONCLUSION:
There was a significant decrease in pain intensity and the analgesic requirement in patients who had local wound infiltration with bupivacaine as compared to placebo group thus making it an effective, simple and cheap method in relieving pain after abdominal incisions.