Chronic Post-thoracotomy Pain Incidence Rate Investigation

Objective The study was aimed to investigate the incidence, duration and severity of persistent post-thoracotomy pain syndrome(PTPS)Methods The study was designed as a single-centre, open labeled, randomized trial. A total of130patients undergoing elective thoracotomy at the first affiliated hospital of zhejiang university during April2012to October2010were selected, and122patients completed the study. Preoperative patients’information, anesthesia and PCA methods were recorded. After surgery, some investigators follow up the patients during the first5postoperative days and telephone follow up the patients during the first3months after surgery to evaluate the patients’ pain scores. The pain score was measured by VAS scores.Results The incidence of chronic post-thoracotomy pain was54.1%at1month,40.2%at2and3months. There was no significant decrease in chronic pain with time since second month after surgery. Younger age, higher BMI and female have a trend to cause chronic pain happen. The pathology type of disease, post-operative WBC counts and the Difference between pre-and post-operative WBC counts have a significant effect on PTPS rate.Conclusion The PTPS rate in the first affiliated hospital of zhejiang university is40.2%,pain rate did not decrease after2month. Many factors may be associated with PTPS while WBC count may be a risk factor.