Continuous intercostal analgesia with 0.5% bupivacaine after thoracotomy: A randomized study

Intercostal nerve blockade versus thoracic epidural analgesia for post thoracotomy pain relief

“…The results showed, in fact that epidural analgesia and intraoperative intercostal nerve blockade provided satisfactory early pain control and compared favorably on the VAS and OVRS scores. This study did not use narcotics, which could have led to alteration of pain scores seen in previous reports 8, 10 We found no significant difference in non-steroidal analgesic consumption between groups in the first four hours of the observation period. That may have been because the requirement for these analgesics depend on each patients characteristics and the number of patients in this study was relatively small.…”

Continuous Extrapleural Infusion of Ropivacaine 0.2% After Cardiovascular Surgery Via the Lateral Thoracotomy Approach

“…The use of an extrapleural catheter, originally described by Sabanathan and associates (8), is a valid alternative to continuous epidural analgesia for relieving postthoracotomy pain (2,9,10). In contrast to bupivacaine, only one study provides information about the pharmacokinetics and efficacy of ropivacaine during long-term continuous extrapleural infusion (11).…”

Efficacy of subpleural continuous infusion of local anesthetics after thoracoscopic pulmonary resection for primary lung cancer compared to intravenous patient-controlled analgesia

“…The postoperative pain can adversely interfere with the respiratory function, performance, outcome and quality of life of patients (2). Uncontrolled postoperative pain can lead to respiratory compromise, resulting in increased morbidity and a prolonged hospital stay (3). Although thoracoscopic surgery reduces postoperative pain compared with open thoracotomy, patients can also experience moderate to severe pain, especially during the first few hours after thoracoscopic surgery (4,5).…”