Pain management in living related adult donor hepatectomy: feasibility of an evidence-based protocol in 100 consecutive donors

OBJECTIVE: Living donor hepatectomy (LDH) has important consequences in terms of acute and chronic pain. We proposed an anesthetic protocol based on the best currently available evidence. We report the results of this protocol's application. RESULTS: We performed a retrospective descriptive study of 100 consecutive donors undergoing LDH. The protocol included standardized information provided by the anesthetist, pharmacological anxiolysis and preventive analgesia. Specifically, pregabalin premedication (opioid-free) intravenous anesthesia (with clonidine, ketamine, magnesium sulphate and ketorolac) and epidural analgesia were proposed. Postoperative follow-up was conducted by the Postoperative Pain Service. This analysis included 100 patients (53 women, 47 men, median age 32.7 years old [28.4-37.3]), operated by xypho-umbilical laparotomy. All elements of our anesthetic protocol were applied in over 75% of patients, except for the preoperative consultation with a senior anesthesiologist (55%). The median number of applied item was 7 [interquartile range, IQR 5-7]. Median postoperative pain scores were, at rest and at mobilization respectively 3 [IQR 2-4] and 6 [IQR 4.5-7] on day 1; 2 [IQR 1-3] and 5 [IQR 3-6] on day 2; and 2 [IQR 0-3] and 4 [IQR 3-5] on day 3. In conclusion, LDH leads to severe acute pain. Despite the proposal of a multimodal evidence-based protocol, its applicancy was not uniform and the pain scores remained relatively high.