2020 Volume 5 Issue 4 Pages 82-87
Purpose : Tissue expander breast reconstruction is often accompanied by severe pain. Anterior thoracic wall block was reported to be effective against pain after mastectomy and tissue expander insertion. We assessed the analgesic efficacy of continuous anterior thoracic block for patients after tissue expander insertion in temporary two-term reconstruction.
Method : We retrospectively reviewed patients who underwent postoperative continuous thoracic wall block (n=21) after tissue expander insertion in temporary two-term reconstruction in comparison with control patients (n=5) . The postoperative pain intensity in the breast and axilla was assessed by the visual analog scale (VAS) . Postoperative analgesic use was also evaluated.
Result : The maximum VAS (median [quartile] ) before the next morning was significantly lower in the block group than in the control group in the breast (32 [5, 74] vs 78 [70, 80] , p =0.043) and axilla (0 [0, 15] vs 70 [65, 78] , p =0.004) . Postoperative analgesic use [n/total n] was lower in the block group than in the control group ( [5/5] vs [8/21] , p =0.0391) .
Conclusion : Continuous anterior thoracic block is effective for pain management after tissue expander insertion in temporary two-term reconstruction.
