Efficacy of Paracervical Block in Laparoscopic Myomectomy: a Randomized Controlled Trial (PALM)

Efficacy of Paracervical Block in Laparoscopic Myomectomy: a Randomized Controlled Trial (PALM)

It remains controversial whether paracervical block should be performed as a powerful strategy for pain relief in laparoscopic myomectomy (LM), because convincing conclusions are difficult to draw because of the heterogeneous and contradictory nature of the literature. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of paracervical blocks using with 0.5% bupivacaine prior to LM for benign gynecologic conditions on postoperative pain relief.

However, no study investigating the efficacy of paracervical block in laparoscopic myomectomy on postoperative pain was conducted, to date. Therefore, the goal of this study is to evaluate whether patients who receive a paracervical block of 5% bupivacaine with epinephrine at the time of laparoscopic myomectomy would have lower postoperative pain, with less consumption of rescue analgesics than patients who receive a paracervical block of normal saline.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Uterine myoma
• American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status (ASAPS) classification I-II
• The absence of pregnancy at the time of surgery.

Exclusion Criteria:

• history of cervical surgery such as conization or cerclage
• inability to perform the paracervical block due to anatomical abnormalities (i.e., very atrophic or small cervix)
• allergy to bupivacaine, planned concomitant surgical procedures involving extensive additional tissue manipulation such as pelvic lymph node dissection
• any concomitant surgery of pelvic floor repair (uterosacral ligament suspension or sacrocolpopexy) or vaginal procedure (anterior or posterior colporrhaphy or mid-urethral slings)
• previously taking opioids for chronic pain
• inability to accurately express their pain