The effect of regional block over pain levels during vacuum-assisted wound closure

Despite being a wound treatment method with a broad spectrum of indications, vacuum-assisted wound closure (VAWC) can be a painful treatment modality which may even result with patient unwillingness for the continuation of treatment. A prospective study was undertaken to determine the effect of regional pain blocks (RPB) for patients who wanted to abandon treatment due to pain after the first application. Patients were asked to score their pain using a visual analogue scale for two different time frames (i) during dressing changes and (ii) while daytime treatment. This evaluation was carried out for conventional wound dressings, VAWC before RPB and finally for VAWC after RPB. The pain experienced with blocks was significantly lesser than conventional and VAWC dressing changes that were applied without pain blocks. Also, the pain was significantly lesser under pain blocks for daytime treatment. For patients with refractory pain where VAWC would prove to be of most benefit, RPB can be discussed with the patient and used. This study has shown that effective pain control can be obtained through regional blocks for patients with excruciating pain undergoing VAWC treatment.