Evaluating the postoperative pain of video-assisted thoracoscopic sympathectomypatients by four pain scales

Aims: Evaluation of postoperative pain level in patients who underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic sympathectomy is important in establishing pain protocols. The aim was to investigate the pain assessment scale that best reflects, most accurately, and effectively describes the patients' pain levels. Methods: This single-center study was conducted with an observational-descriptive design. The study was completed with 41 patients in the thoracic surgery clinic of a training and research hospital in the fall of 2019 and spring of 2020. The questionnaire form included questions about the descriptive and pain characteristics of the participants. Pain levels were questioned using 4 pain scales (These scales were Numeric Rating Scale [NRS, Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Faces Pain Scale revised (FPS-R), and Color Analog Scale (CAS)]. before and approximately 1-2 hours after the administration of postoperative painkillers. The scale that best reflected their pain was questioned. Results: Before the administration of analgesics, the pain characteristics were assessed when patients reported experiencing postoperative pain. Accordingly, most of the participants (36.6%, n=15) stated that they had "back pain at the incision line of the anterior chest wall", 19.5% had pain in the upper anterior aspect of the chest, and 9.8% had anterior chest pain. He stated that 34.1% had pain spreading to other regions, and 6 patients had pain radiating to the back. 39% (n=16) reported stinging pain, 19.5% (n=8) tingling, and 17.1% (n=7) sharp pain. A very strong and significant positive correlation was found between NRS and VAS in four scale correlations with pre-analgesic pain level. It turned out that the best tool was the NRS. Conclusion: Comparison of four pain scale scores before and after analgesia in this patient group showed that the highest mean score was obtained from NRS, followed by VAS, CAS and FPS-R, respectively.