A comparative study of postoperative port-site pain after gallbladder retrieval from umbilical versus epigastric ports in laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Abstract

Introduction: Gall bladder (GB) retrieval is an important cause for postoperative pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). GB is usually extracted either from the epigastric or the umbilical port and there are limited data to decide the superiority of one over other in terms of postoperative pain. This study was designed to determine whether GB retrieval from the umbilical port was associated with less pain as compared to epigastric port in adult patients undergoing four ports elective LC. Material and Methods: A total of 100 patients took part in the study and were randomly allocated into 2 groups. Postoperatively, port-site pain score was assessed at 1, 6, 12, and 24 h by visual analog scale (VAS) score both for the epigastric and umbilical ports in all the patients and the collected data were analyzed by using SPSS version 22. Result: VAS score for postoperative pain at epigastric port at 1, 6, 12, and 24 h found to be higher as compared to umbilical port (6.640 ± 1.494 vs. 5.500 ± 1.176, 6.620 ± 1.549 vs. 5.320 ± 1.188, 6.100 ± 1.549 vs. 4.660 ± 1.232, 5.250 ± 1.459 vs. 3.970 ± 1.274, respectively) which was statistically significant (P value 0.001). But the time taken for retrieval of GB was significantly longer in the umbilical group (4.94 ± 1.56 vs. 3.24 ± 1.29). Conclusion: Umbilical port is better as compared to epigastric port for GB retrieval in patient undergoing elective four port LC in terms of postoperative port-site pain but it takes relatively longer time for the extraction.

Keywords

• Epigastric port
• port-site pain
• umbilical port
• VAS score