Experience with irrigation analgesia after abdominal hysterectomy

Abstract

A prospective randomized clinical trial was performed in 100 patients who underwent abdominal hysterectomy under endotracheal anesthesia based on sevoflurane and fentanyl. Intraoperatively, ketorolac 30 mg was administered intramuscularly after induction of anesthesia and paracetamol 1 g was injected intravenously 30–40 minutes prior to surgical termination in a control group (n = 25). For postoperative anal- gesia, promedol, tramadol, and ketorolac were used intramuscularly and paracetamol was given intravenously. Three study groups (n = 2 in each) differed from the control group in that during wound suturing a multiperforated catheter was placed above the peritoneum over a length of 15 cm, through which a 10-ml bolus of 0.75 % ropivacaine was first administered, followed by continuous infusion of 0.2 % ropivacaine at a rate of 8 ml/hour for 36 hours. In one irrigation group, ketorolac 30 mg was injected intramuscularly t.i.d. for 2 days; in another group, the agent was added to a ropivacaine solution calculated with reference to 180 mg for 2 days; in the third group, ketoprofen 100 mg instead of ketorolac was used b.i.d. for 2 days. Pain level (by digital rating scale, 0–10) and the need for analgesics were measured. There was no sta- tistical significant difference in the level of pain and the need for analgesics between the wound irrigation and control groups.

Keywords

• wound irrigation
• ropivacaine wound irrigation
• administration of local anesthetics into the wound