Anaesthesia has three major components, analgesia, muscle relaxation and hypnosis.~For a long time, opioids have been covering the analgesia function. When using opioids, an analgesic effect is obtained per-operatively, however, not without side-effects. Post-operative complications such as: respiratory depression, post-operative nausea and vomiting, pruritus, acute opioid tolerance and hyperalgesia, difficulty voiding and ileus, are well known. These complications may lead to a prolonged hospital stay.~Opioid usage is an important risk factor of postoperative desaturation. Postoperative desaturation can lead to severe hypoxemia and even tissue hypoxia, followed by obvious cardiologic and neurological complications.~Thus, in patients at risk, such as the obese patient, experts suggest reducing opioid usage.~Authors have indeed published non-opiate protocols implemented on the obese patient.~Non-opiate protocols have been established using a combination of ketamine, lidocaine and an alpha-2 agonist.~The main purpose of this pilot study is to evaluate whether patients undergoing an opioid free anaesthesia regime experience less desaturation episodes during the first 24 h post-bariatric surgery than patients having received an opioid anaesthesia regime.
Anaesthesia has three major components, analgesia, muscle relaxation and hypnosis.~For a long time, opioids have been covering the analgesia function. (1) When using opioids, an analgesic effect is obtained per-operatively, however, not without side-effects. Post-operative complications such as: respiratory depression, post-operative nausea and vomiting, pruritus, acute opioid tolerance and hyperalgesia, difficulty voiding and ileus, are well known.~Opioid usage is an important risk factor of postoperative desaturation. Postoperative desaturation can lead to severe hypoxemia and even tissue hypoxia, followed by obvious cardiologic and neurological complications.~Thus, in patients at risk, such as the obese patient, experts suggest reducing opioid usage.~Non-opiate protocols implemented on the obese patient have been published. Non-opiate protocols have been established using a combination of ketamine, lidocaine and an alpha-2 agonist.~The main purpose of this pilot study is to evaluate whether patients undergoing an opioid free anaesthesia regime experience less desaturation episodes during the first 24 h post-bariatric surgery than patients having received an opioid anaesthesia regime.