Postoperative Analgesia in Modified Radical Mastectomy Patients After Instillation of Bupivacaine Through Surgical Drains.

Abstract

Background: In contrast to other breast surgeries, modified radical mastectomy (MRM) with axillary lymph node clearance involves intense tissue dissection, with postoperative seroma formation and pain being the major complaints affecting patients. Among these, 40% of females experience acute postoperative pain, and between 25 to 60% develop persistent chronic postsurgical pain. The rationale of this study was that minimally invasive procedures can result in immediate pain relief in patients undergoing mastectomy, which has been proven to satisfy their needs and lead to early discharge in the local population.Objective: This study determined to find out the efficacy of instilling bupivacaine on wounds by means of surgical drains in controlling pain after MRM.Methodology: This was a randomized control study trial that was carried out in Surgical Unit 1, Ward 3, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, from November 2020 to April 2021. All patients tested negative for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by PCR test before randomly allocating them into two groups. Thirty women in Group B received 40 ml of 0.25% injection bupivacaine, and 30 in Group C received no drug. Duration of analgesia was recorded as time in hours when the patient was received after surgery in the post-anesthesia care unit until the patient felt ache and discomfort of > three scores according to the visual analog pain score chart (VAS).Results: The average age was 52.48±4.76 years. The mean period of time during which analgesia was observed was significantly higher in Group B as compared to Group C (10.93±1.84 vs 5.03±1.35 hours, p=0.0005).Conclusion: There is improvement in postoperative analgesia after instilling bupivacaine through surgical drains on wound beds in MRM patients.