East African medical journal
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Ninety eight general surgical patients were studied prospectively to determine the degree and severity of postoperative pain during the first 18 hrs following surgery. In 93% of the patients there was some degree of postoperative pain and in 64.4% the pain was moderate, severe or intolerable. Only 64.2% of the patients complained of pain to the medical staff, the remainder kept silent despite their sufferings. ⋯ More diligent approach to the problem of postoperative pain is needed. Adequate dosage and more frequent administrations of analgesic should be given to post-operative patients. Moreover, patients need to be taught that intolerable pain is not an acceptable postoperative sequelae in exchange for cure.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Cholecystectomy with and without drainage: a prospective randomised study.
The use of subhepatic intraperitoneal drains was prospectively studied in 100 patients who underwent elective cholecystectomy for symptomatic gallstones. These patients were randomised to have subhepatic drains (group A, n = 50 patients) or to have no drains (group B, n = 50 patients). There was no difference in the age or sex composition of the two groups. ⋯ Patients in group A tended to have longer post operative hospital stay (mean of 10.2 days) than patients in group B (mean 8.7 days); but the difference between the two groups in this respect was not significant. We conclude that subhepatic intra-peritoneal drains offered no additional advantage in elective cholecystectomy. The evidence we had pointed to their harmful effects.