Placebo-controlled trial of local anaesthesia for treatment of pain after breast reconstruction.

Abstract

Breast reconstruction with submuscular tissue implants is associated with substantial postoperative pain. High pain scores despite large doses of opioids were described in earlier studies, which indicated that opioids alone or together with paracetamol are insufficient. In the present placebo-controlled study we aimed to evaluate the analgesic efficacy of local anaesthesia as a supplement. Forty-three women who had previously been operated on for breast cancer and were listed for unilateral secondary breast reconstruction were assigned at random to one of two groups. The patients received 2.5 mg/ml levobupivacaine (Chirocaine) 15 ml or placebo in a double-blind manner through an indwelling catheter in the operation site every three hours for 45 hours. All patients were given oral paracetamol 1 g x 4 orally and morphine intravenously as patient-controlled analgesia. A visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to assess the intensity of the postoperative pain. Amount of morphine used was recorded. The women in the levobupivacaine group (n=21) reported significantly less pain at rest during the first 15 hours postoperatively (p<0.05). During mobilisation the intensity of pain was lower for the first six hours (p=0.01) and for the interval 18-24 hours (p=0.045) in the same group. Total mean (SD) consumption of opioids in the levobupivacaine and placebo groups was 24.6 mg (22.88) and 33.8 mg (30.82), respectively (p=0.28). After reconstruction, levobupivacaine injected locally every third hour as a supplement to paracetamol orally and morphine given by PCA resulted in improved pain relief at rest and during mobilisation. Morphine consumption was reduced, but this was not significant (p=0.28).