Chronic sequels after thoracoscopic procedures for benign diseases

Objective: Chronic pains after lateral thoracotomy are present in up to 40% of cases. Chronic sequels after thoracoscopy are less common, but neverthe less, a cause for complaints by patients. Pain often reflects a recurrence of mali,on disease. For this reason, we only investigated patients with ben ign disease. Methods: We retrospectively investigated the incidence of chro nic sequels in a consecutive series of 161 patients who underwent thoracosc opy for benign disease and were not converted to an open procedure. The dat a from all 144 patients, contactable at the time of investigation, who were at least 2 months postsurgery, were analyzed. Results: Chronic sequels wer e present in an overall of 31.4% of patients. Patients complained of chroni c pain (20.1%), numbness distal to the incision sites (16.9%) and disaesthe sia (8.3%). Painkillers are taken on a regular basis by 82.8% of patients w ith chronic pain. The use of Staplers, as well as the number of drains (1 v s. 2) used, were statistically significant (P > 0.05) for chronic sequels. All other investigated factors, such as sex, age, and length of drainage, w ere not significantly different in the two groups. Conclusion: The thoracos copic approach is not likely to impact on the prevalence of long-term postt horacotomy sequels, and therefore, further strengths are necessary to reduc e this number. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.