Analgesia nociception index is an indicator of laparoscopic trocar insertion-induced transient nociceptive stimuli.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether analgesia nociception index (ANI) could be an indicator of perioperative pain during laparoscopic trocar insertion.

Methods: A total of 280 participants of anesthesia receiving laparoscopic surgery were enrolled. Anesthesia induction and maintenance were performed using the Marsh model for target propofol and the Minto model for remifentanil. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), heart rate (HR), and ANI were recorded at skin incision, the first-, second, the last-trocar insertion, and 5 min after the last trocar insertion.

Results: ANI was significantly different among the five groups in the last four time points (all < 0.05). Pearson's correlation showed that ANI was negatively correlated with SBP ( = -0.114, = 0.077) and HR ( = -0.247, < 0.001). The area under the curve of ANI was positively correlated with those of SBP ( = 0.493, < 0.001) and HR ( = -0.420, < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression showed that the ANI was an independent factor associated with intraoperative hemodynamic adverse events only at 5 min after the last trocar insertion.

Conclusions: Under general anesthesia, the change in ANI was consistent with changes in the balance between analgesia and nociceptive stimuli. The ANI can reflect the extent of transient pain but had a poor predictive performance for hemodynamic adverse events.