Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures

IJCS

Editorial

Pain after Cardiac Surgery

Most cardiac operations are performed via median sternotomy and cardiopulmonary bypass. Both thoracic incision and cardiopulmonary bypass cause major disturbances in the homeostasis of the patient. Disruption of the tissues by the incision initiates an immediate neurological reaction perceived as pain and an intense biochemical and cellular response to repair the wound. Cardiopulmonary bypass causes far more serious systemic changes in homeostasis than pain, and that is probably the main reason why cardiac surgery is behind other surgical specialties in the development of minimally invasive procedures. Pain associated with surgical incision is largely self-limited and resolves with time and, luckily, so do the changes caused by cardiopulmonary bypass. Obviously, surgical incisions that cause less tissue damage are associated with lower degrees of pain and metabolic disturbance than larger and more traumatic incisions.

In this issue of the International Journal of Cardiovascular Sciences, Silva and colleagues, from the University of Fortaleza, Brazil, report a comparative study on postoperative pain following conventional median sternotomy and right mini-thoracotomy. The study has limitations because of the sample size (there were only 17 patients in each arm), the endpoint of the study was largely subjective, and patients were not randomized. However, as one would expect, both groups of patients complained of pain in the first three days but fewer patients with mini-thoracotomy complained of pain by the seventh postoperative day. In addition, mini-thoracotomy was associated with pain of lower intensity, fewer sites, and shorter duration than median sternotomy.

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IJCS

Original Article

Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery versus Sternotomy – Pain Investigation

Juliana Fernandes Silva et al. Marcela Paula Cavalcante Roger Benevides Montenegro Romulo Lira … Emanuel Carvalho Mel Josue Viana Castro

Abstract

Background:

Treatment of postoperative (PO) pain is essential after surgery, as it contributes to a faster rehabilitation. Assessment of PO pain after minimally invasive (MI) surgery has not been regularly addressed, especially when compared with median sternotomy (MS).

Objective:

This study aims to evaluate the intensity of thoracic pain in the PO period in patients subjected to MI surgery and MS.

Methods:

This study compared the intensity of thoracic pain in 34 patients subjected to minimally invasive (MI; n = 17) and median sternotomy (MS; n = 17) from June 2015 to June 2016. The intensity and sites of pain in the PO period, assessed using the visual numeric pain scale, and the need for pain medications were analyzed using the Student’s t-test and the z test, with confidence level of 95% (p < 0.05).

Results:

Almost all patients reported pain on the third PO day (MS = 94.1% and MI = 88.2%; p = 0.5410). On the seventh PO day, there were significantly more patients free of pain in the group of patients subjected to the MI procedure (MS = 94.1% and MI = 64.7%; p = 0.0341). also, these patients reported fewer pain sites (3^rd PO day: MS = 3.2 ± 1.5; MI = 1.5 ± 1.2; p = 0.001; 7^th PO day: MS = 3.1 ± 1.4; MI = 0.9 ± 0.9; p = 0.000). Patients undergoing MS reported higher pain intensity and longer lasting pain (3^rd PO: MS = 4.8 ± 2.2; MI = 3.0 ± 1.6; 7^th PO: MS = 5.3 ± 2.0; MI = 1.2 ± 1.3; p = 0.001), with no difference in pain intensity between the third and the seventh PO days (p = 0.4931). In addition, patients subjected to MI procedure had a significant decrease in pain intensity from the third to the seventh PO days (p = 0.001).

Conclusion:

According to these results, we concluded that a MI procedure leads to lower intensity of pain in the PO period (from the third PO day on) when compared to a MS; also, patients undergoing MI patients reported fewer pain sites.