Effective pain relief with intrapleural analgesia

The use of an intrapleural catheter for pain relief following cholecystectomy, renal surgery or unilateral breast surgery was first described in 1984 by Kvalheim and Reiestad. Despite seemingly positive reviews (Tartiere et al, 1991), the use of this technique for managing acute pain is still not commonplace even though it has been described as a superior method of analgesia (Gibson, 1994). This article describes the successful use of intrapleural analgesia under two different circumstances: first, postoperatively following open cholecystectomy and, second, following an accident in which the patient sustained several unilateral rib fractures.