• Pedro Esteban González, Nuria M Novoa, and Gonzalo Varela.
• Servicio de Cirugía Torácica, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, España. Electronic address: peg@usal.es.
• Arch. Bronconeumol. 2015 Dec 1; 51 (12): 621-6.

ObjectivesThe patient's position during an axillary thoracotomy can cause postoperative pain and decrease mobility of the ipsilateral shoulder. In this study, we assessed whether the implementation of a standardized analgesia program using transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) decreases local pain and improves ipsilateral shoulder mobility.MethodRandomized, single-blind, single-center clinical trial of 50 patients who had undergone anatomical lung resection via axillary muscle-sparing thoracotomy. Patients were treated with TENS devices for 30 minutes every 8 hours, beginning on postoperative day 1. Pain and mobility of the affected limb were recorded at the same time on postoperative days 1 through 3. A visual analogue scale was used for pain assessment and shoulder mobility was assessed with a goniometer. Results were compared using a non-parametric test.ResultsTwenty-five patients were randomized to each group. Mean age of the control group was 62.7±9.3 years and 63.4±10.2 years in the experimental group. Shoulder mobility parameters were similar in both groups on all postoperative days. However, pain during flexion significantly decreased on day 2 (P=.03) and day 3 (P=.04) in the experimental group.ConclusionThe use of TENS decreases pain from shoulder flexion in patients undergoing axillary thoracotomy for pulmonary resection.Copyright © 2014 SEPAR. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

20 keywords...

hide…