Background: Early postoperative pain is a significant problem in bariatric and metabolic surgery. Our study aimed to investigate the potential role of intraperitoneal bupivacaine hydrochloride in pain management in the early postoperative period after bariatric and metabolic surgery. Methods: This double-blind, prospective, randomized, controlled study included 68 individuals who underwent bariatric and metabolic surgery at the Department of Surgery, Istanbul Aydin University Hospital. The study group received 20 mL of 0.5% bupivacaine hydrochloride intraperitoneally at the operative site, and the control group received 20 mL of normal saline. Visual analog scale (VAS) scores of each patient were recorded at 2nd, 4th, and 6th hours postoperatively. Results: Our study found significant differences in VAS scores of patients between study group and control group at 2nd, 4th, and 6th hours postoperatively. Significant differences were found between male and female patients in the control group at 2nd, 4th, and 6th hours postoperatively. Interestingly, no significant difference was found between female patients in the study group and control group at 2nd, 4th, and 6th hours postoperatively. Conclusions: Our study suggests that intraperitoneal administration of bupivacaine hydrochloride is effective in reducing early postoperative pain in male patients. However, no significant difference was found between the study group and the control group in female patients. Our results indicate that there may be a gender-related difference in the response to bupivacaine administration. Further research is needed to confirm these findings and determine the optimal dosing and administration of local anesthetics for postoperative pain management.
Keywords: gender differences; intraabdominal bupivacaine; laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy; postoperative pain; visual analog scale.