• Jose Manuel Rabanal Llevot, Mounir Fayad Fayad, María José Bartolomé Pacheco, Jose María Carceller Malo, Sara Naranjo Gómez, and Javier Ortega Morales.
• Servicio Anestesiología y Reanimación, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, Santander, Cantabria, España. jmrabanal@humv.es
• Cir Esp. 2010 Jul 1;88(1):30-5.

IntroductionOpen thoracotomy is one of the surgical procedures that is still very painful in the postoperative period, which, in this type of surgery can have on respiratory function and subsequent recovery of the patient.Patients And MethodThe aim of the study is to assess continuous paravertebral thoracic block as an analgesic technique in thoracotomy. A total of 139 patients undergoing pulmonary resection surgery by posterolateral thoracotomy received postoperative analgesia using a 1.5% lidocaine infusion (7-10 ml/h) through a thoracic paravertebral catheter for at least 48 h. Pain intensity measured on the visual analogue scale (VAS) both at rest (passive VAS) and during stimulated cough (active VAS) was recorded at time of discharge from the Recovery Unit, and on the second, third and fourth day post-surgery. Postoperative complications and the need for analgesic rescue were studied.ResultsOn discharge from recovery, 98.6% of the patients had mild pain (passive VAS <3), 1.4% had moderate pain (passive VAS 4-6) and none with severe pain (EVA >6); on the 2nd day post-surgery, 97.9% had mild pain, and 1.2% moderate pain; on the third day 98.6% had mild pain and 0.7% moderate pain; and on the 4th day 100% had mild pain. There were no complications arising from the analgesic technique.ConclusionsContinuous thoracic paravertebral analgesia is effective and safe in controlling post-thoracotomy pain.Copyright 2009 AEC. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

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