Sodium Carboxymethylcellulose Serves as Sustained-Release Agents for Providing Analgesia at the Donor Site After Costal Cartilage Harvesting in Ear Reconstruction.

BACKGROUND

The postoperative pain experienced at the donor site following ear reconstruction using autologous costal cartilage significantly impacts patients' quality of life. Sodium carboxymethylcellulose demonstrates a favorable sustained release property, and its potential to prolong the analgesic effect of ropivacaine remains unexplored. The present study aimed to investigate the analgesic efficacy of ropivacaine gel formulated with sodium carboxymethylcellulose as a sustained-release agent on the donor site of costal cartilage.

METHOD

A retrospective analysis was conducted on a total of 75 patients who underwent costal cartilage ear reconstruction. The patients were divided into three groups based on the different analgesic methods applied to the cartilage donor site: ropivacaine solution group, ropivacaine gel group, and ropivacaine solution combined with gel group. The visual analog scale (VAS) and patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) were used to evaluate the severity of chest pain.

RESULTS

The study included a total of 60 patients undergoing ear reconstruction, with 20 patients in each group. The VAS chest pain score and the frequency of PCA application were lower in both the ropivacaine gel group and the ropivacaine solution combined with gel group compared to the ropivacaine solution group. There was no significant difference observed between the ropivacaine gel group and the ropivacaine solution combined with gel group.

CONCLUSION

The utilization of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose as a sustained-release agent in the formulation of ropivacaine gel has been found to effectively prolong the duration of pain relief and alleviate postoperative discomfort at the donor site following ear reconstruction with costal cartilage harvesting.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV

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