Preemptive Analgesia with Local Lidocaine Infiltration for Single-Level Open Disc Operation

To evaluate the impact of preemptive local analgesia at the incision site for postoperative pain in patients undergoing disc operation. In this prospective, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study 166 patients were assigned to either lidocaine (n = 83) or placebo (n = 83) groups. The incision site was infiltrated with either 20 mL of 2% lidocaine and 0.9% saline in lidocaine group or 0.9% saline before the incision. Morphine (5 mg) was used for postoperative pain treatment. Postoperative pain was measured with Visual Analog Scale (VAS) in 6, 12, 24 and 48 h. Data were analyzed with SPSS software, using Chi-square and t-tests. The groups were matched for age, sex, type of operation, mean length of hospital stay and mean length of operation. Statistical analysis revealed no significant difference in visual analog scores of pain severity at 6, 12, 24 and 48 h after surgery between lidocaine and placebo groups (6 h: 38.22 ±26.87 vs. 34.52 ±24.43, p = 0.35; 12 h: 33.26 ±28.83 vs. 28.01 ±24.71, p = 0.20; 24 h: 26.71 ±23.31 vs. 22.85 ±22.48, p = 0.27; 48 h 16.35 ±10.16 vs. 15.23 ±8.90 p = 0.45). The amount of narcotics used post operatively had no meaningful difference in the groups (lidocaine 10.07 ±8.24 mg vs. placebo 10.54 ±9.31 mg p = 0.73). Preemptive analgesia with lidocaine 2% used subcutaneously before skin incision has no effect in reducing postoperative pain, narcotics demand and duration of hospital stay.