A Randomized Controlled Trial for Abdominal Binder Use after Laparoendoscopic Single-Site Surgery.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To compare postoperative pain in patients using an abdominal binder with a control group after laparoendoscopic single-site (LESS) surgery.

DESIGN: A randomized controlled trial (Canadian Task Force classification level 1).

SETTING: An academic gynecologic surgeon's practice.

PATIENTS: Private patients undergoing surgery performed by a fellowship-trained minimally invasive gynecologic surgeon between April 2016 and April 2017.

INTERVENTIONS: Ninety total patients were selected for this study, with 60 randomized to receive an abdominal binder after surgery and 30 patients randomized to the control group without a binder.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Using a 10-point verbal analog scale, patients recorded pain levels for 3 weeks postoperatively on a variety of measures, including overall and incisional pain. They recorded results on postoperative days 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 14, and 21. On average, the association between time and the overall pain score did not differ with binder use (p = .37). The overall pain decreases significantly over time (p < .001). After adjusting for time, the overall pain score differed significantly by binder status (p = .04). Those without a binder reported an average pain score that was 1.13 (standard deviation = 0.55) points higher than those with a binder across the first week.

CONCLUSION: The results suggest that abdominal binder use after LESS surgery may be beneficial in reducing postoperative pain in the first week. Results from this study can provide feasibility data for future studies.