Incidence of Chronic Neuropathic Pain After Open-heart Surgery: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis

Objectives: Chronic sternal pain has been reported in 11%–56% of patients 1 year after cardiac surgery with median sternotomy. However, chronic pain after sternotomy can frequently be ignored.
Methods: Patients who received open-heart surgery between January 2020 and June 2022 were included. Data analysis was performed through file scans, hospital data processing system and patient follow-up documents, phone calls, and algology outpatient clinic records. T For the assessment of neuropathic pain, the Turkish version of the pain scale, for which validity and reliability studies were conducted, was employed.
Results: When all patients were analyzed, the incidence of chronic pain was 28.7%, and the incidence of chronic neuropathic pain was 14.7%. There was no difference in age, gender, education level, time after surgery, and smoking. Although the BMI was higher in the group with neuropathic pain when compared, there was no statistically significant difference. The presence of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) diagnosis was statistically significant in the group that created the neuropathic pain group, and no discernible difference was found in terms of other additional diseases. The rate of patients with preoperative angina was discovered to be higher in the neuropathic pain group (p: 0.030). When the type of surgery, urgency, and need for revision were compared, no significant difference was observed between the two groups. When both groups were compared in terms of l the duration of hospital stay was discovered to be longer in the neuropathic pain group (17 [15–19] days, p: 0.046).
Conclusion: The incidence of chronic neuropathic pain was estimated to be 14.7%, and it was shown that the presence of DM, preoperative angina, and the long hospital stay might be factors contributing to the development of chronic neuropathic pain.