Laparoscopic colorectal surgery is a minimally invasive surgery due to the use of small incisions instead of a single large incision. The small incisions give an advantage of less surgical wound pain. But, the appearance of postoperative pain weakens the advantage of the laparoscopic surgery as minimally invasive surgical technique. Also, perioperative pain management is a major factor affecting recovery after surgery.

A case-matched control study was therefore conducted to examine the use of a multimodal approach to postoperative pain management with acetaminophen as a baseline analgesic following laparoscopic colorectal surgery. A total of 40 patients were involved in the study. Out of these 40 patients, 20 received acetaminophen and the remaining 20 received epidural anesthesia. The urethral catheter could be ejected earlier from the acetaminophen group as compared to the epidural group. The prevalence of vertigo was significantly reduced in patients in acetaminophen group as compared to patients in the epidural group. The frequency of the use of analgesics was also lesser among acetaminophen group than of epidural group.

The study showed that acetaminophen as a baseline analgesic is a promising option to manage postoperative pain. It is safe, useful and can be used without using epidural anesthesia.