Treatment for postoperative wound pain in gynecologic laparoscopic surgery: topical lidocaine patches.

Background: This article reports our early experience with the use of lidocaine patches for pain control in the immediate postoperative period after laparoscopic gynecologic surgery.

Subjects And Methods: A prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted on 40 patients undergoing a gynecologic laparoscopy who were randomized to receive either topical patches of 700 mg of lidocaine (n=20) or placebo patches (n=20). The patch was divided evenly into four smaller patches, which were applied at the four port sites and changed every 12 hours for 36 hours after surgery.