"Evaluation of the Efficacy of Intravenous Lidocaine on Chronic Post-operative Pain in Patients Requiring Emergency Abdominal Surgery. A Multicentre, Randomised, Controlled, Double-blind Study."

Chronic pain is a major public health issue. According to the most recent sources, it affects around 11 million people in France, leading to a significant deterioration in patients' quality of life, limitations in their activities of daily living, and an impact on their mental health (anxiety and depression symptoms). Furthermore, chronic pain imposes a significant economic cost on society. In France, it is estimated that 10 million surgical or interventional procedures are carried out each year. However, the most recent epidemiological data suggest that 20 to 30 per cent of patients will experience chronic post-surgical pain (CPSP) within 3 to 6 months following the procedure. It is therefore essential to improve perioperative care in order to reduce patients' CSPS: this would bring major benefits at both the individual and societal levels. Lidocaine is a local anaesthetic that has been widely used in human clinical practice for decades in the management of acute pain. Evidence also suggests that its use as a continuous intravenous infusion may have a beneficial effect on post-operative pain and reduce its incidence, but there are no guidelines regarding the use of lidocaine in this context. It therefore seems necessary to evaluate the efficacy of intravenous lidocaine on post-operative pain. The Investigators propose to evaluate the efficacy of intravenous lidocaine on post-operative pain in a large-scale, multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial (266 patients) involving patients requiring emergency abdominal surgery, a population at high risk of post-operative pain that has been little studied in the literature. In this study, we will assess the impact of post-operative pain on patients' quality of life and mental health.