Prospective Cohort Study to Assess Pain in Post Sternotomy Cardiac Surgery in Selected Hospital Settings of Punjab

Abstract

Chronic post sternotomy pain is a well-recognized problem. It is an important complication that may have a significant impact on the patient's everyday life. Despite the technical developments in surgical procedures, chronic post-sternotomy pain (CPSP) is still very common. Pain along the sternal scar persists in about 30% of cases. In a prospective manner a cohort of 200 consecutive patients were evaluated for chronic post-sternotomy pain one year after surgery. Participants were identified during the postoperative period by non probability purposive sampling method. The structured interview was conducted before the patient was transferred to the ward by using the tool. A prospective analysis of pain was done in 1st, 3rd, 6th and 12th postoperative months by telephonic interview schedule of patients under study and 183 patients were followed through telephonic interview schedule till 12th post-operative month. The result revealed that after surgery 99.5% patients were having pain over the surgical site of sternotomy, 58.50% patients were having mild pain over the surgical site at its least, higher 71.50% patients were having moderate pain over the surgical site at its average, higher 71.50% patients were having moderate pain over the surgical site at its worst, higher 59.50% patients were having mild pain over the surgical site at the time of data collection This prospective study shows that the pain score 0 was percieved by 86.89% of patients, 7.65% patients percieved pain score one, pain score two was percieved by 4.37% of patients and pain score three was percieved by 1.09% of patients after 1 year of post sternotomy surgery with numeric pain rating scale. Keywords: Post sternotomy pain, surgical site, numeric pain rating scale

Cite this Article

Jicy Shahji, Ramesh Kumari, Pankaj Goel. Prospective cohort study to assess pain in post sternotomy cardiac surgery in selected hospital settings of Punjab. Research and Reviews: Journal of Surgery. 2015; 4(3):21–38p.