Association of Autologous Costal Cartilage Harvesting Technique With Donor-Site Pain in Patients Undergoing Rhinoplasty

Abstract

IMPORTANCE Postoperative pain at the donor site is a common morbidity following autologous costal cartilage grafting. OBJECTIVE To evaluate postoperative pain at the donor site after the use of a muscle-sparing costal cartilage harvesting technique compared with a muscle-cutting technique using electrocautery.

Preoperative considerations, operative preparation, and postoperative care for rib cartilage use in rhinoplasty

“…While needle pricking, keeping a midline is crucial to avoid tension pneumothorax. Grabbing selected ribs with two fingers from the other hand are helpful to guide the right direction technique has been increasingly applied to reduce donor site discomfort [19,20] . Instead of transection, a blunt dissection of the external oblique muscle can significantly reduce pain during rest and movement.…”

“…Instead of transection, a blunt dissection of the external oblique muscle can significantly reduce pain during rest and movement. Thus, some authors recommend routine use of a muscle-sparing technique in autologous costal cartilage harvesting [20] . With these procedures, regular pain pills are sufficient to control postoperative chest pain.…”

Endoscopic-assisted rib cartilage harvesting for revision rhinoplasty

“…Dissection was concluded with Freer elevators. This step enables to reduce postoperative pain and possible intraoperative bleeding [6] [ Figure 2].…”

“…After cartilage removal it's important to make sure that pleura is left intact. We perform insufflation testfilling the wound with saline solution and using positive thoracic pressure [6] . If no bubbles observed-one is safe and pleura is intact.…”

“…The use of muscle-sparing technique contributes to faster healing with reduced postoperative pain [1.6 ± 0.9 Visual Pain Analog Scale (VAS)]. This benefit is more pronounced in the early postoperative period and is especially dramatic in reducing movement pain [6] .…”