The impact of laparoscopic surgery on postoperative pain: A prospective study

Abstract

Introduction: The reduction of postoperative pain intensity is recognized as one of the major advantages of laparoscopic surgery. However, even though this pain is of low intensity, it is not completely abolished after laparoscopic surgery, and may even be multifactorial in origin. The objective of our study is to evaluate pain after laparoscopic surgery and to highlight the various causes of pain. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive and prospective study involving 337 patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery for non-traumatic acute abdominal emergencies between February 2018 and October 2021. Pain was assessed using the visual analog scale (VAS). Results: Postoperative pain was present in 335 patients (99.4%) on postoperative day 0 and in 283 patients (83.98%) on postoperative day 1. This pain was of low intensity in the majority of cases (73%, n=246 patients) on postoperative day 0 and (68.5%, n=231 patients) on postoperative day 1. Surgical site pain was present in 134 cases (39.77%), pain related to delayed intestinal transit in 52 cases (15.43%), shoulder pain related to CO2 in 40 cases (11.87%), and a combination of different types of pain was found in 16.7% of patients. Conclusion: Post-laparoscopic surgery pain is multifactorial, of low intensity, and easily managed with first-tier analgesics.