Opioid-free Anesthesia in Laparoscopic Cholecystectomies

Inadequately treated postoperative pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy may untowardly affect early recovery and also lead to the development of chronic pain. Laparoscopic surgery is associated with diminished postoperative pain but this does not mean that patients subjected to laparoscopic operations are not in need for analgesia intra- and postoperatively. Pneumoperitoneum can lead to postoperative discomfort and occasionally intense postoperative shoulder pain. Opioid-based analgesia is associated with side-effects, such as respiratory depression, postoperative nausea and vomiting and occasional induction of tolerance and hyperalgesia. Therefore, in recent years research has focused on the quest for non-opioid-based regimens for perioperative analgesia in the context of multimodal analgesic techniques. These techniques have been shown to possess significant advantages, such as allowing earlier mobilization after surgery, early resumption of enteral feeding and reduced hospital length of stay. In this context, the intraoperative intravenous injection of lidocaine has been reported to improve postoperative pain control, reduce opioid consumption and improve the quality of postoperative functional recovery after general anesthesia. Intraoperative infusions of ketamine (an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor inhibitor) have also been correlated with reduced pain scores and a decrease in analgesic requirements postoperatively. Lastly, dexmedetomidine is a highly selective alfa-2 adreno-ceptor agonist that provides sedation, analgesia, and sympatholysis. Its perioperative intravenous administration has been associated with a reduction in postoperative pain intensity, analgesic consumption and nausea. There is insufficient data in literature investigating the effect of combinations of these agents intraoperatively. It would be of interest to demonstrate whether the administration of combinations can be used towards the achievement of a completely opioid-free anesthetic regimen. Additionally, it can be hypothesized that the combination of non-opioid drugs with different targets can lead to enhanced postoperative recovery, an improved opioid-sparing effect and a decrease in the development of chronic pain as compared to the administration of opioids. Therefore, the aim of this study will be to investigate the effect of a combination of intravenous infusions of lidocaine-ketamine-dexmedetomidine versus fentanyl on recovery profile and postoperative pain after elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy.