Pain management after general thoracic surgery is crucial for both patients and surgeons. Thoracic procedures are among the most painful, so we use various methods to minimize pain:
- Minimally invasive surgery, especially robotic surgery, reduces patient discomfort by using small incisions and thus decreasing tissue, muscle and nerve damage.
- Local anesthetic blocks are administered during and before the procedure.
- Cryotherapy to freeze nerves and manage postoperative pain. This technology causes a temporary nerve block that works in about 18 hours and lasts for three months. Dr. Roberts leads research in this area.
- Patient-controlled analgesia with IV morphine allows self-dosing for pain relief. This is a low dose of narcotics that patients control to manage their pain.
- Additional medications administered by the nurses include IV acetaminophen and IV Toradol.
