A randomised controlled trial of lidocaine infusion on post-operative opioid consumption in patients undergoing robotic colorectal surgery.

Introduction: Intravenous lidocaine has been shown to have analgesic effects leading to a reduced post-operative opiate need, but this effect is still debated in various surgical populations. We investigated whether this effect could be demonstrated in robot-assisted colorectal surgery.

Methods: A total of 60 adult patients undergoing robot-assisted colorectal surgery were randomly assigned to two groups in this prospective, double-blinded trial.