Intravenous lidocaine infusion for pain control after laparoscopic cholecystectomy: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

BACKGROUND: This meta-analysis aimed to assess the efficiency and safety of intravenous infusion of lidocaine for pain management after laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). METHODS: A systematic search was performed in PubMed (August 1966–2017), Medline (August 1966–2017), Embase (August 1980–2017), ScienceDirect (August 1985–2017), and the Cochrane Library. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. Fixed/random effect model was used according to the heterogeneity tested by I2 statistic. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata.11.0 software. RESULTS: A total of 5 RCTs were retrieved involving 274 patients. The present meta-analysis indicated that there were significant differences between groups in terms of visual analog scale scores at 12hours (weighted mean difference [WMD]=−0.743, 95% CI: −1.246 to −0.240, P = .004), 24hours (WMD=−0.712, 95% CI: −1.239 to −0.184, P = .008), and 48hours (WMD=−0.600, 95% CI: −0.972 to −0.229, P = .002) after LC. Significant differences were found regarding opioid consumption at 12hours (WMD=−3.136, 95% CI: −5.591 to −0.680, P = .012), 24hours (WMD=−4.739, 95% CI: −8.291 to −1.188, P = .009), and 48hours (WMD=−3.408, 95% CI: −5.489 to −1.326, P = .001) after LC. CONCLUSION: Intravenous lidocaine infusion significantly reduced postoperative pain scores and opioid consumption after LC. In addition, there were fewer adverse effects in the lidocaine groups. Higher quality RCTs are still required for further research.