Continuous Infusion of Local Anesthesia After Living Donor Nephrectomy: A Comparative Analysis

Introduction. Today local anesthetic wound infiltration is widely recognized as a useful adjunct in a multimodality approach to postoperative pain management. The effectiveness of continuous wound infusion of ropivacaine for postoperative pain relief after laparoscopic living donor nephrectomy was analyzed in this retrospective, comparative analysis. Methods. Twenty patients undergoing living donor nephrectomy were divided into two groups: standard analgesic therapy (n = 10) and ropivacaine continuous infusion group (n = 10). Results. We observed a significant difference in term of visual analogue scale scores, use of morphine, hospital stay, and bowel recovery in favor of the ropivacaine group. The cost analysis demonstrated an overall savings of 985 Euros/patient. Discussion. Surgical wound infusion with ropivacaine was safe and seemed to improve pain relief and accelerate recovery and discharge, reducing the overall costs of care. Postoperative pain control in the donor is of primary importance for better patient compliance and greater perceived quality of health care service.