Naldebain for Pain Management of Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Plain-language summary

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the most common surgical procedure for removal of the inflamed gall bladder or other gall bladder pathologies. There are more than 12,000 cases of cholecystectomy performed in Taiwan annually, and more than 85% of this procedure are undertook with laparoscopic techniques. Even with minimally invasive laparoscopic operation, patients may still suffer from postoperative wound pain, deep visceral or referred pain. About 80% of patients who received laparoscopic procedures complain of moderate-to-severe pain within the first day after cholecystectomy. Most importantly, up to 20% (range from 3 to 20%) of these patients complained surgical-related pain one year after operation and they require prolonged use of opioid to control chronic postoperative pain (CPSP). However, there are currently lack of clinical practice guidelines or recommendations for prevention of CPSP after laparoscopic abdominal surgery. Although regional block techniques (i.e. truncal block or intrathecal opioid) are considered as effective supplementary analgesic approaches to improve postoperative pain control, parenteral administration of analgesics remain as the mainstay for pain management of laparoscopic abdominal surgery. Naldebain® is prodrug of nalbuphine, which was approved by the Taiwan FDA in 2017. Naldebain® is an extended-release dinalbuphine sebacate, and is rapidly hydrolyzed by tissue of plasma esterase to release nalbuphine. A number of clinical studies have shown that single-dose of pre-operative intramuscular administration of Naldebain® provides significantly higher analgesic effect up to 1 week in hemorrhoidectomy and laparotomy surgery with a well-tolerated safety profile. Therefore, this PI-initiated randomized, double-blind, placebo-control trial aims to investigate the clinical efficacy of Naldebain® in management of acute postoperative pain in patients receiving laparoscopic cholecystectomy, and prevention of the development of CPSP after surgery.

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