Effect of Adding Hydrocortisone to Intraperitoneal Bupivacaine in Laparoscopic Bariatric Surgery

BACKGROUND: Bariatric surgery is the effective management of obesity; however, postoperative pain is associated with a great morbidity. The management of pain is important for the enhancement of patient recovery. Local anesthetics can be injected during laparoscopic surgery into the peritoneum throughout the ports produced either before the beginning of laparoscopy or before the closure of the wound to reduce postoperative pain. Our aim is to evaluate if there is an additive analgesic effect by the administration of intraperitoneal hydrocortisone with streamed intraperitoneal bupivacaine as a method of postoperative pain relief in laparoscopic bariatric surgeries. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred patients listed for laparoscopic bariatric surgery were the subject of this study. Patients were randomly allocated into two groups: Group I received 100 mg of 0.5% isobaric bupivacaine plus 20 mL normal saline intraperitoneally and Group II received intraperitoneal 100 mg of 0.5% isobaric bupivacaine + 100 mg hydrocortisone + 20 mL of saline at the end of the laparoscopic procedure. The primary outcome was the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score for pain. The secondary outcomes were the time of first analgesic request, total opioid requirement, heart rate, and mean blood pressure. RESULTS: VAS showed a significant decrease at 4, 6, and 12 h postoperative in Group II compared to Group I. There was a marked decrease in total meperidine requirement with prolonged time of the first analgesic request in Group II compared to Group I. CONCLUSION: Intraperitoneal hydrocortisone with bupivacaine had improved postoperative pain relief with a decrease in analgesic requirement.