Chronic Pain Following Thoracic Surgery

Completed

• Conditions: Pain, Postoperative
• Interventions: Procedure: Thoracic surgery

• Registration Number: NCT01144845
• Lead Sponsor: University of Aarhus

Brief Summary

Pain that persists after the healing of a surgical wound has previously been described as an important, but often unrecognized clinical problem. Persistent postsurgical (chronic postoperative pain) is the consequence of either ongoing inflammation or more common neuropathic pain as a result of surgical damage to peripheral nerves.

Previous studies have shown that chronic pain is a frequent and serious complication following thoracic surgery. However, the prevalence of chronic pain following both thoracoscopy and anterior thoracotomy in patients with pulmonary malignancies is poorly characterized and the impact of this pain on patients' lives remains unclear. Thus, this study aims to investigate the prevalence of chronic pain following thoracoscopy or anterior thoracotomy, and the severity and impact of persistent post-surgical pain on daily life.

This study is working with several hypotheses: 1.) persistent postsurgical pain following lung cancer surgery is predominantly of neuropathic nature and the presence of neuropathic symptoms increases the severity of postsurgical pain and reduces the patient's quality of life, 2.) the prevalence of chronic pain is reduced over time, and 3.) less invasive thoracic surgical interventions reduces the risk of the development of chronic pain.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2010-04
• Primary Completion: 2010-06
• Study First Submitted: 2010-06-14
• Study First Submitted QC: 2010-06-14
• Study First Posted: 2010-06-16
• Study Completion: 2010-10
• Status Verified: 2011-08
• Last Update Submitted: 2011-08-27
• Last Update Posted: 2011-08-30

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 702

Inclusion Criteria

• Patients who previously underwent thoracic surgery with lung resection from January 2000 to december 2009

Exclusion Criteria

• Death

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Thoracic surgical patients	Thoracic surgery	Patients with pulmonary malignancies

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Presence of persistent postsurgical pain	Within 10 years after thoracic surgery

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Location of persistent postsurgical pain	Within 10 years after thoracic surgery
Course of persistent postsurgical pain	Within 10 years after thoracic surgery
Duration of postsurgical pain	Within 10 years after thoracic surgery
Characteristics of persistent postsurgical pain	Within 10 years after thoracic surgery
Symptoms associated with persistent postsurgical pain	Within 10 years after thoracic surgery
Severity of postsurgical pain	Within 10 years after thoracic surgery
Treatment of and effect of treatment on persistent postsurgical pain	Within 10 years after thoracic surgery
Effect of postsurgical pain on activity, mood, walking ability, work, interpersonal relations, sleep and quality of life	Within 10 years after thoracic surgery

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular surgery, Aarhus University Hospital, Skejby; 🇩🇰 Aarhus N, Denmark