Effects of Erythromycin on Distension of Gallbladder during Cholecystectomy under Laparoscopic Surgery

Erythromycin is a medicine that can affect motilin receptors and thereby cause wrinkling of the gall bladder and, theoretically, is able to help in not rupturing the gallbladder while holding it on the grasper and/or in not dissecting the liver. Therefore, this research intended to study the effects of this drug on reducing the volume of the gallbladder, on the consequent reduction in the extent of perforation, and on reduction in complications resulting from perforation including infections and postsurgery pain.
There were 130 women with cholecystitis in this clinical trial. They were randomly divided into the control group (63 patients) and the case group (67 patients). The case group received 250 mg of intravenous erythromycin 30 minutes before surgery, and a surgeon used laparoscopic instruments to measure gallbladder distention. Complications during surgery were recorded and, 24 hours after the surgery and one week later, patients were evaluated to study postsurgery pain and infections.
Findings: The extent of distension in the case group was significantly reduced (P 0.05). Postsurgery pain decreased in the case group (P It can be concluded that erythromycin was effective in reducing distension of the gallbladder, and this effect was observed in the surgeries that were performed. It had no statistically significant effect on the extent of perforation, but decreased postsurgery pain through reducing surgery duration and distention. Therefore, it is recommended that erythromycin be used for this purpose.