Postoperative pain is an
acute pain related to size and site of operation,
patient's psychologic and physiological condition, degree of manipulation and damage of
tissues.
Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential
tissue damage.
Administration of
opioids is one of the common
techniques for
postoperative pain management, but
complications related to
opioids leads to use of other
methods for
pain control. In this study we evaluated the effect of low
dose lidocaine infusion for
postoperative pain control. In this study, 30
patients were randomized in two study and
control groups under
similar conditions. In study group,
administration of
lidocaine 1% [1.5mg/kg followed by 1.5 mg/ kg /h infusion] was started 30 minutes before operation, and continued 1 hour after operation. In
control group,
normal saline [placebo] was used. After 24 hours,
pain of
patients and systemic
analgesic consumption was assessed and analyzed. Results showed that infusion of low
dose lidocaine does not reduce
postoperative pain and amount of
morphine consumption 24 hours after operation. Difference in results of this study and other
similar investigations can result from difference in design and selected
surgical procedures. Also, lack of medical and
research equipments such as appropriate
PCA [
Patient Controlled Analgesia] and measurement of
blood levels of
lidocaine were limitations of this study