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Post-thoracotomy Pain Syndrome

  • Chronic Pain Medicine (O Viswanath, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

This article reviews PTPS demographics, diagnosis, pathophysiology, surgical and anesthetic techniques, and their role in preventing PTPS along with updated treatment options.

Recent Findings

Post-thoracotomy pain syndrome (PTPS) can be incapacitating. The neuropathic type pain of PTPS is along the incision site and persists at least 2 months postoperatively. There is a wide reported range of prevalence of PTPS. There are several risk factors that have been identified including surgical technique and younger age. Several surgical and anesthetic techniques have been trialed to reduce pain after thoracotomy. Multimodal pain control is the suggested long-term treatment plan for patients with PTPS.

Summary

There are several factors that can be modified to reduce pain and incidence of PTPS during the perioperative period and the use of multimodal analgesia is suggested for the treatment of PTPS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Phoenix, USA

    J. Maloney, C. Wie, S. Pew, S. Covington, M. Maita, J. Freeman, M. Kraus & N. Strand

  2. Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, USA

    R. Kozinn

  3. Department of Anesthesiology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, USA

    M. Sabin

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  1. J. Maloney
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  2. C. Wie
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Correspondence to J. Maloney.

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Maloney, J., Wie, C., Pew, S. et al. Post-thoracotomy Pain Syndrome. Curr Pain Headache Rep 26, 677–681 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-022-01069-z

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