%0 Journal Article %A Vasile Grigorie %A Cornel Savu %A Radu Posea %A Boris Coman %A Cornel Petreanu %A Dan Avramescu %A Nicolae Galie %T Less pain without pain-killers? %D 2012 %J European Respiratory Journal %P P4428 %V 40 %N Suppl 56 %X OBJECTIVESTo assess if the mode of closing the thoracothomy may have an influence over the post-operative pain.MATHERIAL AND METODSProspective study, with 2 groups of patients, 15 cases each. Group A – for this patients, the stiches used to close the thoracothomy were passed between the rib and intercostal nerve (in this cases the nerve wasn't compressed against the rib when the stich was tightened). Group B – the stiches were passed in classic fashion, inferior to intercostal nerve and when the thoracotomy was closed, the pressure of the stiches compressed the nerve against the rib. All patients had lateral thoracotomy, 3 stiches were used for all patients, no peridural/paravertebral catheter was used and regular analgesia (consisted in Paracetamol, Tramadol and NSAID) was used for all patients. For assessing the pain, we used a scale from 0-10, 0 = no pain, 10 = pain intensity was the biggest ever felt by the patient. We assess the pain in the first 48 h post-op and after 21 days.RESULTSGroup A – only 2 patients alleged pain score 10 in first 48 hours post op, 1 patient – score 9, the rest of the group pain was 8 or less. Group B – 13 patients alleged pain score 10 post-op, 1 patient – score 8 and 1- score 7. Pain assessed 3 weeks after: group A pain score range from 0 to 7, and in group B from 0 to 10.DISCUSSIONSPain is difficult to assess preciselly because the threshold and perception is different from person to person. According with this study, it seems that involvement of the intercostal nerve in the closure of thoracotomy increase the post-operative pain, especially in the first 48 hours. %U https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/erj/40/Suppl_56/P4428.full.pdf