Intravenous Lignocaine Infusion in Laparoscopic Donor Nephrectomy

Background: Administration of morphine as boluses or via a patient controlled analgesic device (PCA) has been the standard practice for donors after nephrectomy. However, administration of morphine is far from being ideal analgesic as it does not provide optimal dynamic pain relief after major surgery, consistently demonstrate little effect on surgical stress response and organ dysfunction with high incidences of postoperative nausea/vomiting, respiratory depression and sedation. Several studies demonstrated perioperative intravenous lignocaine infusion can improve post-operative pain scores and morphine consumption in abdominal surgery. The aim of this study is to identify the effectiveness of intra-operative lignocaine infusion in lowering postoperative pain and reduce postoperative morphine consumption in patients who undergo laparoscopic donor nephrectomy.