title: Does dexmedetomidine reduce postoperative pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy with multimodal analgesia?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pain after laparoscopy is multifactorial and different treatments have been proposed to provide pain relief. Multimodal analgesia is now recommended to prevent and treat post-laparoscopy pain. Dexmedetomidine, an α2 agonist, has well-known anesthetic and analgesic-sparing effects. We evaluated the analgesic effect of perioperative dexmedetomidine infusion during laparoscopic cholecystectomy with multimodal analgesia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-two patients aged 20 to 60 years old were allocated randomly into one of 2 groups (n = 21, in each). All patients underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy under multimodal analgesia. The patients in group P received dexmedetomidine 1 µg/kg during 10 min before induction and then 0.5 µg/kg/h continuously until the removal of the gall bladder while the patients in the group C received saline by the same methods as group P. Total analgesic consumption and VAS score were recorded for the first 24 hr.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant differences in VAS scores between group P and group C during 24 hr after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. VAS scores of group P were lower than that of group C during the 1st hr after operation. The amount of ketorolac required during the 24 hr after the operation was significantly less in group P compared to group C.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The administration of dexmedetomidine during laparoscopic cholecystectomy with multimodal analgesia has minimal benefits on the reduction of the postoperative pain score. The amount of ketorolac requirements during 24 hr after the operation showed significant difference. Dexmedetomidine might be helpful for the postoperative pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy with multimodal analgesia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Busan Paik Hospital, College of Medicine, Inje University, Busan, Korea.
authors.forename: Jung-Kyu
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Soon Ho
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Cheong
authors.forename: Kun Moo
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Se Hun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Jeong Han
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kwangrae
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Myoung-Hun
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyun-Tae
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Kim