Abstract
Background Chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) is a common complication after many types of open surgical procedures. CPSP continues to be a major health-care problem, resulting in impaired physical function and quality of life. It is compelling to believe that the prevalences of CPSP after minimally invasive, laparoscopic approaches are lower as compared to open surgeries. Nevertheless, data on CPSP after laparoscopic surgery is scarce.Methods We performed a systematic search of the PubMed, CENTRAL, and Embase databases. The prevalence of CPSP after laparoscopic surgery, the observed risk factors for CPSP, and patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL) were described for each study.Results We assessed 5 studies, presenting 1.374 patients, which investigated CPSP after 4 types of laparoscopic surgery including donor nephrectomy, adrenalectomy, colorectal surgery, and prostatectomy. We found overall prevalences of CPSP of 5.6–17%, with the highest prevalence in colorectal surgery. Two cross-sectional studies describe higher prevalences of CPSP 2 or 4 years after laparoscopic donor nephrectomy and adrenalectomy, respectively. In four studies, an association between the HRQoL of patients and the presence of CPSP after laparoscopic surgery was reported.Conclusions The results indicate that the prevalence of CPSP differs between various types of laparoscopic abdominal surgery with prevalences of 5.6–17%, which is substantial. There is a possible association between the presence of CPSP and impaired HRQoL scores. This underlines the need for further research pursuing interventions which reduce the incidence of CPSP after laparoscopic surgery.Trial registration retrospectively registered in PROSPERO, registration no. 498343.