[Long-term complaints after minimal invasive thoracic surgery operations and thoracotomy].

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Minimally invasive techniques are now frequently used in general thoracic surgery. More than 30% of all minimally invasive procedures are operations in patients with spontaneous pneumothorax. Recently, it has been shown that the video-assisted approach compared to the standard anterolateral thoracotomy results in a significant reduction of the early postoperative pain. However, little is known about the influence of video-assisted surgery on long-term complaints.

METHODS:

We analyzed the frequency and characteristics of chronic complaints in 60 patients after video-assisted operations for spontaneous pneumothorax using a standardized questionnaire. For comparison, 27 patients after anterolateral thoracotomy for benign diseases were interviewed 24 months postoperatively using the same questionnaire.

RESULTS:

After minimally invasive surgery and a median observation time of 59 months, 19 (31.7%) out of 60 patients suffered from chronic complaints. Two of them (3.3%) required daily oral pain medication. On a visual analog pain scale (ranging from 0 to 100), 17 patients described a pain intensity of < 20 and 2 (3.3%) patients > 50. After thoracotomy 14 (51.8%) out of 27 patients suffered from chronic complaints, 5 (18.5%) of them with regular use of oral pain medications. The mean pain intensity (analog scale) was 3.6 points after minimally invasive operations and 14.4 points after thoracotomy (P = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS:

In conclusion, even after minimally invasive thoracic operations some patients suffer from chronic complaints. However, they are less frequent and of lower intensity than after thoracotomy.

• Authors: B Passlick, C Born, H Mandelkow, W Sienel, O Thetter
• Journal: Der Chirurg; Zeitschrift fur alle Gebiete der operativen Medizen (Chirurg) Vol. 72 Issue 8 Pg. 934-8; discussion 938-9 (Aug 2001) ISSN: 0009-4722 [Print] Germany
• Vernacular Title: Langzeitbeschwerden nach minimal-invasiven thoraxchirurgischen Operationen und nach Thoracotomie.
• PMID: 11554139 (Publication Type: Comparative Study, Journal Article)

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Chronic Disease
• Female
• Follow-Up Studies
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures
• Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care
• Pain, Postoperative (etiology)
• Pneumothorax (surgery)
• Postoperative Complications (etiology, surgery)
• Prospective Studies
• Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted
• Thoracotomy