Surgical Conditions During Laparoscopic Bariatric Surgery
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2017-10-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Obesity affects more than 78 million adults in the United States and it is estimated that 35%
of the US population is obese. Currently, more than 179,000 bariatric procedures are
performed in the US each year with the majority of these surgeries using laparoscopic
techniques. Surgeons often request deep neuromuscular blockade (NMB) during surgery, but
there is no evidence that a deep NMB improves surgical conditions and that the surgeons can
discriminate between a moderate and deep NMB. There is also evidence that maintaining low
insufflation pressures during laparoscopic surgery may decrease postoperative pain. The goal
of this prospective, randomized, assessor-blinded controlled trial is to test the hypothesis
that deep NMB provides optimal surgical conditions during laparoscopic bariatric surgery in
the morbidly obese patient. It will also determine if deep NMB allows the surgeon to utilize
lower insufflation pressure and decreases postoperative pain requirements after laparoscopic
bariatric surgery.