Pre-incision infiltration of local anesthetic reduces postoperative pain with no effects on bruising and wound cosmesis after thyroid surgery

Optimizing postoperative pain control is an important aspect in perioperative patient care. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of preincision local anesthetic infiltration in postoperative pain management for thyroid surgery and its relationship to bruising and wound cosmesis. In a randomized single-blinded study, 39 consecutive patients listed for thyroid surgery were assigned into two groups. Group I (n = 19) received subcuticular preincision infiltration with 10 ml of bupivacaine (0.5%) and Group II (n = 20) received no infiltration. Postoperatively, the pain experienced was evaluated by two methods: verbal response scores and linear analogue scores (0-100 mm) at different time intervals following surgery. Bruising and cosmetic effects resulting from surgery were assessed using a linear analogue score at discharge. The two groups were well matched for confounding variables. Pain scores were significantly different at 6 hours post operatively (p = 0.0341) with mean scores Group I = 33 and Group II = 50, but this difference disappeared at 24 hours. No patients (0%) received IV morphine in Group I compared to 5 patients (25%) in Group II. There was no significant difference in the mean bruising scores (p = 0.8864) and mean cosmetic scores (p = 0.3339) at discharge. Preincision infiltration with bupivacaine provides easy and better analgesic control postoperatively in patients following thyroid surgery with no effects on bruising or wound cosmesis.