Introduction : Many patients complain of pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy(LC). Various methods have been tried to reduce postoperative pain. Vitamin C is known for antioxidant, neuroprotective, and neuromodulating effects, which is expected to reducing pain. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of high dose vitamin C therapy in reducing pain after LC.

Methods : In total, 320 patients were included. 159 patients were allocated to the vitamin C group, and they were orally administered each vitamin C 3000mg on the evening before surgery, on the day of surgery, postoperative day 1, and postoperative day 2. 161 patients were allocated to the placebo group and placebo was administered in the same manner. The primary end-point is comparison of postoperative pain values via numeric rating scale (NRS) and number of analgesic use. In addition, inflammation level in blood, hospital day, and postoperative complications were measured.

Results : A total of 302 patients were analyzed. 150 patients were allocated to the vitamin C group, and 152 patients to the placebo group. The pain scores and analgesic requirements were not significant differences between the two groups. Also, there was no difference in inflammation level in blood, hospital day, and postoperative complications.

Conclusions : In previous papers, there has been reported that analgesic use decreased in patients who received vitamin C after surgery. However, in this study, there was no significant difference between the two groups. Pain after LC is due to multiple factors. Therefore, it is difficult to evaluate the pain reduction by supplying vitamin C.