Intravenous Lidocaine Decreases Pain Scores 24 Hours Post Cardiac Surgery: Substudy of a Randomized Controlled Trial.
Intravenous lidocaine lowered pain scores 24 hours after cardiac surgery.
Intravenous Lidocaine Decreases Pain Scores 24 Hours Post Cardiac Surgery: Substudy of a Randomized Controlled Trial.
Post cardiac surgery pain remains a problem for a significant number of patients.
To determine the effect of intravenous lidocaine on pain scores and opioid consumption in the first 48 hours post cardiac surgery.
This study was conducted in a tertiary/quaternary care academic hospital in the United States.
less pain a day after cardiac surgery with lidocaine vs placebo
The cumulative opioid use in morphine milligram equivalents was not significant, both in univariable and multivariable analysis, at all timepoints between patients receiving lidocaine vs placebo.
Among secondary outcomes, the only significant effect was a decrease in odds of acetaminophen use in the first postoperative 48 hours (adj. odds ratio 0.54; 95% CI 0.32 to 0.90, P = 0.018).
LIMITATIONS: Although pain scores were a preplanned outcome of the parent study, opioid consumption was not.
We found that intravenous lidocaine resulted in a statistically significant decrease in Visual Analog Scale pain scores at 24 hours post cardiac surgery, with no difference in opioid consumption.
While this pain benefit has been noted in other surgical patient populations, our findings are important since patients undergoing cardiac surgery are unique given the physiologic changes associated with cardiopulmonary bypass graft.