PAIN INTENSITY FOLLOWING LAPAROSCOPY

The temperature of the gas used for insufflation during laparoscopy ha s a significant influence on postoperative shoulder and subphrenic pai n according to a prospective randomized study of 103 female patients w ho filled out a standardized pain assessment questionnaire with a visu al analogue scale from 0 to 10. Women in group B (n = 53), who had bee n insufflated with warm CO2 gas during laparoscopy, had significantly less pain than women in the control group (group A; n = 50). The decla red value for shoulder pain at the first postoperative day was 3.6 wit h cold gas versus 2.5 with warm CO2 (p = 0.013). The strongest pain wa s found following long operations (5.4 vs. 4, respectively) and follow ing high CO2 gas use (5.5 vs. 2.3); in both cases, a significant advan tage was noted for the group treated with warmed CO2. Further research is needed regarding the etiology and possible prevention of postopera tive pain following laparoscopy. As the use of warm CO2 gas leads to s ignificant reduction of pain, technical and mechanical parameters shou ld be changed accordingly.