Influence of Pain After Thoracotomy in Therapy with Improved Rib Retraction Technique
SU Chang
DONG Tian-jian
ZHAO Qi
YU Hua-ming
LI Xiao-hui
Abstract：Objective To study the influence on the degree of postoperative chest pain in patients undergoing thora-cotomies using rotatory four-leaf retractor to avoid oppression on intercostal rib muscles. Methods 100 patients with lung cancer or esophageal cancer, who would undergo thoracotomy, were divided into two groups using random digits table. 51 pa-tients in the study group were operated upon using rotatory four-leaf retractor to avoid oppression on intercostal rib muscles in the thoracotomies, and 49 patients in the control group underwent conventional thoracotomies. Performance of pain 8, 24, 48 h and 1 week after operation were compared. Total volume of hydrothorax, dosage of Morphine consumption 1 week after operation and complication situation during the end of operation to discharge were also recorded. Results The visual analogue scale (VAS) scores of pain in study group was lower than that of the control group 8, 24, 48 h and 1 week after operation (P<0. 05). There was no significant difference in the amount of thoracic drainage between the two groups (P>0. 05). The dosage of Morphine consumption 1 week after operation and rib fracture rates during the end of operation up to discharge in study group was lower than that in control group (P<0. 05). Conclusion Application of rotatory four-leaf retractor to avoid oppression on intercostal rib muscles can effectively relieve postoperative pain without significantly increasing the risk of com-plications.
Keywords：Thoracic surgical procedurePostoperative complicationPain
Publication Date：2015-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：3( 97-99 )