Major abdominal surgery continues is one of the most performed surgical procedures in the world, both electively and urgently. One of the main problems of this type of intervention is postoperative pain. it is shown that it increases health costs related to longer recovery times, longer hospital stay and related complications such as the increased risk of presenting chronic POP pain, which it has been estimated up to 20%, much higher if the surgery involves surgery in the gastrointestinal system.

The goal of analgesia in the postoperative setting is precisely to provide comfort to patients, minimize adverse effects and complications arising from the procedure.

The epidural analgesic technique (has been proposed as an analgesic management standard, since multiple studies have shown that it reduces opioid consumption, improves recovery and is a useful strategy for pain control. However, it is an invasive technique, with risk of complications such as hematomas and epidural abscesses, and it may be difficult to perform.

Currently it has been shown in multiple studies that the intravenous infusion of a local anesthetic, such as lidocaine, in this type of surgical scenarios can reduce the intensity of pain, opioid consumption, hospital stay and ileus with few adverse effects. In addition, these studies propose that, being a less invasive technique, it could be easier to implement and even be safer than the epidural technique.

The main hypothesis of this study is precisely that the infusion of lidocaine may be non-inferior to epidural analgesia in the analgesic management of patients undergoing major abdominal surgery.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patient over 18 years.

• Elective major open intra-abdominal surgery:

  • Cholecystectomy.
  • Total or subtotal gastrectomy.
  • Colectomy or Hemicolectomy.
  • Pancreatoduodenectomy.
  • Hepatectomy 1 or 2 segments.
  • Exploration and / or reconstruction of the bile duct.
  • Abdominal demolition.
  • Sigmoidectomy.

• Patient classified as ASA (American Association of Anesthesiology) 1, 2 or 3.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pregnant woman

• Patient with contraindication for epidural analgesic techniques:

  1. Anticoagulated patient
  2. Active infection in the puncture site.
  3. Malformation in spinal cord.
  4. Sepsis without antibiotic treatment.
  5. Patient with contraindication for the use of intravenous lidocaine: Arrhythmias of any type not treated.
  6. Patient with known allergy to opioids and / or local anesthetics.
  7. Patient with chronic pain in previous management with strong opioids, gabapentinoids or epidural technique.
  8. Patient with liver failure or terminal renal failure.
  9. Patient who is scheduled for intubated admission to an intensive care unit after the procedure.
  10. Patient who refuses to participate in the study or who refuses to receive epidural analgesia.
  11. Patient who was technically impossible to place an epidural catheter in surgery.

The masking process will be done as follows:

Masking of the data collection and analysis staff: The investigative staff who performs the data collection and who evaluates the outcomes after the anesthetic act, will not have information about the intervention received by the patient. Those who participate in the data analysis phase will also be blind to the intervention.

For practical and ethical point of view, it is not possible to mask the doctors who perform the intervention and neither the patients. A "SHAM" or simulated intervention is not possible given that this would require an unnecessary invasive procedure that would not be used, which would make it ethically questionable.