The control of post-thoracotomy pain. A comparative evaluation of thoracic epidural fentanyl infusions and cryo-analgesia.

This is a comparative study of two methods to relieve postoperative thoracotomy pain. Continuous thoracic epidural infusion of fentanyl produced superior analgesia when compared with cryo-analgesia of the relevant thoracic nerves. Linear analogue pain scores were consistently lower in the epidural group reaching significance (p less than 0.05) at 32 and 40 hours after operation. All 36 patients in the cryo-analgesia group required additional analgesia, while 12 out of the 32 patients in the epidural group did not. This difference was significant at p less than 0.001. Respiratory and cardiovascular measurements were similar in both groups and the only side effect attributable to the epidural fentanyl was itching but this was not a problem.