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Postoperative Analgesic Effect of Locally Infiltrated Levobupivacaine in Fleur-de-Lys Abdominoplasty

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Abstract

Background

This prospective double-blind study compared the analgesic properties of locally infiltrated levobupivacaine with those of ropivacaine in fleur-de-lys abdominoplasty.

Methods

A total of 46 patients subjected to fleur-de-lis abdominoplasty under general anesthesia were included. The patients were randomly assigned to receive local infiltration of the peri-incisional and dissected area with the following solutions: group A (placebo group, n = 15) received 100 ml of saline 0.9%, group B (n = 15) received 50 ml of ropivacaine 0.75% in 50 ml of saline 0.9%, and group C (n = 16) received 60 ml of levobupivacaine 0.25% in 40 ml of saline 0.9%. The anesthetic technique was standardized for all the groups. The patients were asked to assess their pain at rest on a visual analog scale (VAS) at 2 h, 4 h, and 24 h postoperatively. Data were analyzed by mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA), simple ANOVA, and repeated measures ANOVA, followed by Tukey’s test.

Results

Groups B and C did not differ significantly in their VAS scores at 2 h postoperatively, but group C experienced significantly less pain (p < 0.001) than either the control group or the B group at 4 h and 24 h postoperatively. Group B also registered significantly lower VAS scores (p < 0.001) than the placebo group at 4 h postoperatively.

Conclusions

It is concluded that for mini abdominoplasty, adequate analgesia is achieved for at least 4 h postoperatively by local tissue infiltration with either ropivacaine or levobupivacaine. However, in terms of intensity and duration of analgesia, levobupivacaine was found to be more effective than ropivacaine in reducing postoperative pain associated with mini abdominoplasty.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Thraki Medical Centre, 7 P. Kirillou, 68100, Alexandroupolis, Greece

    Despoina D. Kakagia & Spartakos Fotiadis

  2. Department of Medical Statistics, Democritus University in Thrace Medical School, Alexandroupolis, Greece

    Gregory Tripsiannis

  3. Department of Plastic Reconstructive Surgery, “G. Gennimatas” Athens General Hospital, Microsurgery and Burn Unit, Athens, Greece

    Dimosthenis Tsoutsos

Authors
  1. Despoina D. Kakagia
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  2. Spartakos Fotiadis
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  3. Gregory Tripsiannis
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  4. Dimosthenis Tsoutsos
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Correspondence to Despoina D. Kakagia.

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Kakagia, D.D., Fotiadis, S., Tripsiannis, G. et al. Postoperative Analgesic Effect of Locally Infiltrated Levobupivacaine in Fleur-de-Lys Abdominoplasty. Aesth Plast Surg 31, 128–132 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-006-0187-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-006-0187-4

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