Infiltration Analgesia After Caesarean Section

Local Infiltration Analgesia for Postoperative Pain After Caesarean Section. A Prospective, Randomised, Controlled Trial

Infiltration of a local anesthetic into the surgical wound is a simple method to strive to control postoperative pain after surgery. In the investigators institution, this method is used quite often. However, there is a controversy regarding the analgesic efficacy. Moreover, the cost of the single use elastomeric pump used with this procedure is clearly higher than the costs of other routinely used analgesic methods. According to the investigators observations, infiltration of a local anesthetic into the surgical wound after caesarean section seems to reduce the need for rescue analgesics. However, the scientific evidence of the efficacy of this technique is weak. The investigators decided to conduct a prospective, controlled, randomised, double blind trial on this topic. The hypothesis is that wound infiltration with local anesthetic will reduce postoperative pain and opioid consumption after caesarean section without major adverse effects.

The amount of oxycodone required 48 hours after operation. Oxycodone was administered when the strength of pain is over 3 on numeric rating scale (NRS) 0-10.

Intensity of pain was recorded on a numerical rating scale (0-10), where higher scores mean more severe pain, during rest and when moving, for five time intervals (0-6 h, 6-12 h, 12-24 h, 24-36 h and 36-48 h); for each time interval, the highest recorded pain score was taken into account.

Inclusion Criteria: volunteer age over 18 years spinal anesthesia ASA 1-2 no allergy to used medications no medications which have effect on pain perception Exclusion Criteria: patient's refusal to participate marked systemic disease