According to a prospective observational study published in 'International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy', no significant difference in postoperative pain control between patients receiving liposomal bupivacaine and bupivacaine after the robotic-assisted surgery was reported.

Although the preference of minimally invasive thoracic surgeries has increased over thoracotomies, significant postoperative pain is still experienced by the patients. The literature on the use of liposomal bupivacaine in patients undergoing robotic surgeries is scarce. Molly Rincavage et al. compared the pain control using the intercostal nerve block with liposomal bupivacaine to bupivacaine for patients undergoing robotic-assisted thoracic surgery.  This study was set in a 455-bed community hospital and considered a historical control group of a total of 96 patients who underwent robotic lung resection. The patients in the control group were given bupivacaine, while the intervention group were given liposomal bupivacaine. The primary outcome comprised of average pain score measurements at 24, 48, and 72 hours after the surgery. No significant differences were observed in average pain scores between the groups.

On the first postoperative day, the frequency of ketorolac use was lower for those who received liposomal bupivacaine. Also, length of stay, opioid requirements, or rate of complications had no significant differences.