title: Active gas aspiration to reduce pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate to what effect active subdiaphragmatic gas aspiration reduces pain after a laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 104 patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy were randomly placed into 2 groups. Group I included active subdiaphragmatic gas aspiration (n=52) while group II included simple evacuation (n=52) without any additional procedures. Postoperative analgesic requirements were recorded and the level of postoperative abdominal and shoulder pain was assessed using a numeric scale after 24 postoperative hours. Data were analyzed using the χ test for nonparametric data and Student t test for parametric data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Age, volume of CO2 used during surgery, and operation duration were similar in the 2 groups. The simple evacuation group (group II) experienced more shoulder and abdominal pain postoperatively when compared with the active subdiaphragmatic aspiration group (group I) and had a higher use of analgesics during the postoperative period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Active subdiaphragmatic gas aspiration after a laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a simple procedure that can effectively reduce postoperative abdominal and shoulder pain and as a result the need for analgesics.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Umraniye Teaching and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. driatak@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Atak
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozbagriacik
authors.forename: Omer Faruk
authors.initials: OF
authors.lastname: Akinci
authors.forename: Nejdet
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bildik
authors.forename: Ismail Ege
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Subasi
authors.forename: Mehtap
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.forename: Nejla Inan
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Ayta
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016058:Analgesia, Patient-Controlled; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D017081:Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011659:Pulmonary Gas Exchange; D020069:Shoulder Pain / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014421:Turkey