Prophylactic dexamethasone decreases the incidence of nausea and vomiting after LC relative to placebo and may decrease the severity of postoperative pain. Dexamethasone does not increase the incidence of headaches or dizziness. Surgeons should consider administering prophylactic corticosteroids to patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy, particularly those at high risk of postoperative nausea and vomiting.

Preemptive administration of local anesthetic at the incision site reduces postoperative pain compared with placebo but achieves an analgesic effect similar to that of postincisional anesthetic infiltration. Preemptive local anesthetic administered intraperitoneally decreases postoperative pain compared with both placebo and postoperative infiltration. Surgeons should use local analgesia in laparoscopic surgery to decrease postoperative pain, but the timing of administration is significant only for intraperitoneal infiltration.

No abstract