Journal of cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia
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J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. · Feb 2019
Randomized Controlled TrialContinuous Ropivacaine Infusion Offers No Benefit in Treating Postoperative Pain After Cardiac Surgery.
One multimodal pain management method for reducing postoperative opioid need after cardiac surgery is to continuously infuse local anesthetic into a median sternotomy wound. Previous studies have shown contradictory results with this method; therefore, no consensus exists on its effectiveness. The authors tested the effectiveness of continuous 0.2% ropivacaine infusion into a sternotomy wound after cardiac surgery. ⋯ Continuous 0.2% ropivacaine infusions at the median sternotomy wound did not reduce postoperative pain or opioid consumption during the first 48 hours after cardiac surgery. This technique apparently was not beneficial for post-sternotomy pain treatment.