Evaluation of Intravenous Paracetamol Administration on Postoperative Pain in Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Background: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy has rapidly become the procedure of choice for routine gallbladder removal and is currently the most commonly performed major abdominal procedure in Western countries. Paracetamol is a medication used to treat pain and fever. It is typically used for mild to moderate pain relief. Also it is used for severe pain, such as cancer pain and pain after surgery, in combination with opioid pain medication.

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of intravenous paracetamol treatment on early postoperative period analgesia after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Subjects and Methods: Those patients were attending the general surgical unit in Sabratha Hospital. We conducted a case-control study of 20 patients underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy as control group (aged 25 to 55 years; 13 males, 7 females) and their nearest-aged paracetamol group (aged 24 to 55 years; 14 males, 6 females). was used to assess severity of pain in all cases and controls. Pain evaluation was performed every 15 minutes after pain control was obtained.

Results: There was a significant difference between cases and controls regarding all scores of Verbal Rating Scales. The verbal evaluation scores of the paracetamol group were significantly lower than the control group.

Conclusion: It can be concluded that paracetamol is effective postoperative analgesia. It is the drug of choice in patients that cannot be treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Pre-operative administration of paracetamol supports effective and faster recovery. Anticipatory guidance should be provided to encourage to use paracetamol as postoperative analgesia. Further studies are needed to clarify the postoperative recovery characteristics by Modified Aldrete’s Scoring System.

Keywords: Intravenous, Paracetamol, Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, Postoperative pain, Pain evaluation, Verbal evaluation scores.