Cold therapy on postoperative analgesia in children undergoing rib cartilage

SHANG Yue; FENG Yao; LIU Xuehong; WANG Dongdan; RUAN Jingjing; ZHANG Bin; ZHANG Ying; HE Kexin

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1673-7040.2025.12.016

Abstract：Objective To investigate the effect of cold therapy on postoperative analgesia in children undergoing autologous rib cartilage transplantation for external ear reconstruction.Methods Fifty children with rib cartilage transplantation for external ear reconstruction who were admitted to the hospital in November 2023 were included in the control group,and 50 children with rib cartilage transplantation for external ear reconstruction who were admitted to the hospital in December 2023 were included in the intervention group by the convenience sampling method.The children in the control group were treated with conventional postoperative analgesia,and the children in the intervention group were treated with ice packs of 15％ethanol for twenty minutes at thirty-minute intervals during the 24 h postoperative period,on top of the control group.The Wong-Baker Facial Expression Pain Rating Scale was used to assess the pain scores of the children in the two groups at rest and during activity in the immediate postoperative period(4 h,8 h,12 h,16 h,20 h,and 24 h).Results The pain scores of children in the intervention group were significantly lower than those of the control group(P＜0.05);the consumption of analgesic pumps of children in the intervention group was significantly lower than that of the control group(P＜0.05);and the dosage and number of times of oral painkillers were significantly decreased in the intervention group compared to the control group(P＜0.05).Conclusion The use of cold therapy after autologous rib cartilage transplantation external ear reconstruction can effectively relieve the pain of children and reduce the use of intravenous and oral analgesics.