Pain after Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Background and Objectives: Although laparoscopic cholecystectomy results in less pain than open cholecystectomy, it is not a pain free procedure. A clinical trial was designed to assess pain after LC in terms of types of pain, intensity and factors that may influence it. Methods: A prospective study on pain was performed on all patients undergoing the operation over the period of 1.5 year (n = 150). Pain was measured by a five point verbal rating scale (VRS). Results: Pain was the most frequent symptom, after the operation. The main type of postoperative pain was intra-abdominal 72%, followed by incisional 60% and shoulder pain 10%.The mean level of pain was 2.12 VRS points 8 h after the operation and declined to 1.01 points next day. In 54 patients (36%) the intensity of pain was higher than 2 VRS points. Female sex was the only predictor of pain intensity. Conclusions: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy did cause significant postoperative pain in one-third of our patients only up to the first postoperative day. As predictors for high intensity of pain were not identified clearly, pain should be monitored and multimodal analgesics should be delivered accordingly.