Intravenous lidocaine and postoperative bowel motility in laparotomies for generalized acute peritonitis: double-blind randomized clinical trial at souro-sanou teaching hospital in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

Reducing the duration of postoperative paralytic ileus remains a major challenge for anesthetists in digestive surgery. Numerous studies carried out as part of an accelerated postoperative rehabilitation program1,2 have shown the beneficial effect of intravenous lidocaine perioperatively, due to the discovery in recent years of its multiple effects, in particular the reduction of peroperative opioids consumption and the duration of postoperative paralytic ileus3‒6 In sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Burkina Faso, acute generalized peritonitis is one of the most common surgical emergencies. In fact, in 2015, it accounted for 25% of surgical emergency room admissions at Souro-Sanou teaching hospital in Bobo Dioulasso.7 Worse, it was the emergency that required the longest hospital stay in 2014 at the Yalgado Ouedraogo Hospital of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso.8 The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of intravenous lidocaine on postoperative bowel motility to help improve the prognosis of patients with laparotomy for acute generalized peritonitis. Methods