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Continuous local analgesic therapy reduces pain after radical inguinal/iliacal lymph node dissection
Heiko Neuss1, Martin Schomaker, Wieland Raue
1Department of General, Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery, Medical Faculty of the Humboldt University Berlin, Charité, Campus Mitte Schumannstrasse 20/21, Berlin, Germany. heiko.neuss@charite.de
Background:
To optimize postoperative pain therapy after a radical inguinal/iliacal lymph node dissection (RILND), we investigated the influence of a continuous application of a local anaesthetic via a subfascial wound catheter in the abdominal wall in addition to a standardized systemic analgesia.
Materials And Methods:
Between July 2007 and December 2009, 50 patients with stage III/IV of melanoma disease received, in an observational study, a systemic analgesic therapy. Of these patients, 30 were additionally treated with a subfascial catheter. Main outcome criterion was the pain under mobilisation at the first postoperative morning registered via a visual analogue score. Minor criteria were the analgesic requirement, the specific (surgical) complications and the day of discharge.
Results:
Patients treated with the subfascial catheter had significant less pain at the first postoperative morning in rest (p = 0.02) and after mobilisation (p = 0.03) without increased morbidity (p = 0.45). Less patients of the treatment group needed a supplementary analgesic medication (p = 0.01) and were able to leave hospital earlier than patients of the control group (p = 0.01).
Conclusions:
A subfascially placed pain catheter enhances postoperative pain therapy after RILND.
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