A Randomized Comparison of Multimodal Analgesia and Fentanyl-Based Patient-Controlled Analgesia in Women Undergoing Robot-Assisted Bilateral Axillary Breast Approach Thyroidectomy

Abstract

Opioid-free multimodal analgesia (MMA) emerges as a preferable approach for postoperative pain management compared to opioid-based patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) in robot-assisted bilateral axillary breast approach thyroidectomy, a procedure commonly undergone by young female patients. We compared the analgesic efficacy and other recovery profiles between MMA and PCA. In total, 88 female patients were administered fentanyl-based PCA or the combination of lidocaine continuous infusion and nefopam injection before recovery from general anesthesia. The visual analog scale score of postoperative pain was assessed at the post-anesthesia care unit and at 6, 12, and 24 h after the termination of surgery. Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), rescue analgesic and anti-emetic agents, recovery profiles, and adverse events were also compared. The median numeric rating scores on postoperative pain at 6 h after recovery from general anesthesia were three in both groups, with no significant difference between the groups at any time point. The PONV incidence was significantly higher in the PCA group than in the MMA group. The combination of systemic lidocaine infusion and nefopam injection has an analgesic effect equivalent to that of fentanyl-based PCA without PONV.