Intraoperative local anaesthesia for postoperative pain relief in laparoscopic sterilisation: a prospective randomised comparative study between topical application versus mesosalpinx block.

A randomized prospective study was carried out in a hospitals day surgery unit in Egypt to investigate the most effective method of applying local anesthesia to reduce postoperative pain of lapararoscopic sterilization procedures. It compared the efficacy of topical application of lidocaine 2% in 80000 epinephrine on the fallopian tubes (Group 1) vs. using the solution for bilateral mesosalpinx block (Group 2). 40 women were randomized into two groups. The findings revealed a shorter mean operative time in Group 1 than in Group 2 but the mean time for first analgesia was insignificantly different between both groups. Moreover there was no significance noted in both groups in terms of pain intensity at 1 hour after eye opening and at time of discharge as well as on the peak plasma concentration of the anesthetic and mean time to reach that level. Although both methods showed their efficacy for postoperative pain relief the use of topical application is favored due to convenience lesser possibility of intraoperative complications and shorter operative time. (authors)