Perioperative intravenous lidocaine infusion for postsurgical pain management in bariatric surgery patients

Introduction: Obesity is one of the biggest modern health issues worldwide. Owing to the failure of both behavioral and pharmacological measures, the surgical approach has been established as the main conduct to follow, with bariatric surgery being one of the most effective and safe procedures. One of the bases for the optimal analgesic strategy is the use of adjuvants during the perioperative period. One of the main drugs in use is lidocaine. Aim: To evaluate postoperative pain after perioperative lidocaine infusion in patients undergoing bariatric surgery and describe the presence of nausea and vomiting during the first 24 h. Methods: This was a retrospective study of patients who underwent laparoscopic bariatric surgery at ABC Medical Center. Two study arms were established: a group of patients who received lidocaine infusion and a control group. The presence of pain, nausea, or vomiting was evaluated upon admission to the recovery area and 1 h and 24 h after the intervention. The normal distribution of the data was first verified via the Shapiro-Wilk test. The data are presented as medians for quantitative variables and as frequencies for qualitative variables. Results: A total of 50 surgeries were performed, with a significant correlation between lidocaine infusion and lower pain values at 1 h (p = 0.04). Similarly, there was a marked trend in the presence of nausea in control group 4 (18.6%) vs. 15 (53.5%). Conclusions: Our data suggest that the use of intraoperative lidocaine infusion is limited in postoperative pain management; nonetheless, it significantly improves the incidence of postoperative nausea.