[Assessment of acute postoperative pain in patients undergoing midline laparotomy].

OBJECTIVE: TO asses the prevalence and intensity of acute postoperative pain (APP) in patients undergoing midline laparotomy in the first 24 hours after surgery.

METHOD: Cross-sectional study of prevalence. By a daily visit to the unit of resuscitation we proceeded to the collection of data from patients who met the inclusion criteria, providing prior information to obtain the consent. Two valuations were realized by visual analog scale (VAS), the intensity of postoperative pain at the time of the survey, coinciding with 24 postoperatory hours, and the maximum of pain referred in the previous 24 hours.

RESULTS: We included seventy-three adultpatients undergoing midline laporotomy. The VAS score at the time of the survey within 24 hours post-surgery was 2.01 (DE 2.29) and 4.43 (DE 3.77) as a result of the assessment of the maximum referred pain during their stay in the unit. It was observed a negative correlation with age and the VAS score in both the 24 hours (P = 0.025) and the one referred to the maximum pain (P = 0.011). Scheduled based analgesia showed an important difference in VAS scores in patients treated with dexketoprofen.

CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded the need for improvement in the care of patients with accute postoperative pain and the need for revision of analgesic protocols. It is also necessary to protocolize the use of VAS in units of resuscitation in a systematic way.