Laparotomy in a patient under opioid free anesthesia

Obese patients subjected to bariatric surgery have a high probability of presenting complications that worsen with the use of opioids and can be reduced thanks to anaesthetic techniques like opioid-free anaesthetics (OFA). The risk of having to convert the laparoscopic surgical technique into open surgery is one of the criticisms aimed at this anaesthetic modality, facing the possibility of there not being a correct sympathetic or nociceptive control. We present the case of a patient scheduled for laparoscopic bariatric surgery who, while maintaining OFA, was converted to open surgery (exploratory laparoscopy), with correct control achieved of both haemodynamics and perioperative pain.