Acute and Chronic Pain after Cesarean Delivery under Subarachnoid Anaesthesia. Is Postoperative Analgesia Adequate? A Cohort Observational Study

Abstract

Objectives: Uncontrolled pain after cesarean delivery is associated with women's dissatisfaction and limited ability to take care of the neonate. Materials and methods:This prospective observational study included 173 women scheduled for elective cesarean delivery under spinal anesthesia. Postoperative analgesia included subcutaneous morphine 0.1 mg/kg in the post-anesthesia care unit, followed by intravenous paracetamol 1000 mg every eight hours and intravenous diclofenac 75 mg every 12 hours in the ward. Subcutaneous morphine was repeated on demand. Pain intensity at rest, pain intensity after movement and cumulative morphine consumption were recorded at 2, 4, 8, and 24 hours postoperatively. Acute pain intensity was assessed on a 100 mm visual analogue scale (VAS, score 0-100 mm). Three and six months postoperatively, women were interviewed by phone for the presence of persisting pain, abnormal sensation in the wound area and analgesic consumption. Results:Our results showed that 24 hours postoperatively the mean dose of morphine was 16±7.1 mg and VAS scores at rest and after movement were 23±17.3 mm and 40±20.9 mm, respectively. The mean VAS scores at rest remained below 31 mm at all times, while after movement they were over 40 mm at both four and eight hours postoperatively (45±23.8 mm and 43±23.2 mm, respectively). Three months postoperatively, 15% of women reported the presence of continuous or intermittent pain, 72% loss of sensation or numbness at the site of surgery and 32% occasional analgesic consumption at home. Six months after surgery, 5% of women reported pain, 44% loss of sensation or numbness in the wound area and none of them (0%) consumed analgesics due to persistent post-cesarean delivery pain. Conclusion:Based on the above-mentioned findings, we concluded that the amount of morphine consumed in the ward was low and possibly inadequate to alleviate early post-cesarean delivery pain. The overall incidence of persisting pain was low and consistent with previous studies.

FIGURE 1.

Flow diagram of the study

TABLE 1.

Age, body weight, height and smoking habits for the 153 parturients

TABLE 2.

Cumulative morphine consumption at 2, 4, 8 and 24 hours postoperatively and overall number of rescue doses of morphine

TABLE 3.

Visual analogue scale (nm) at rest and after movement at 2, 4, 8 and 24 hours postoperatively.

TABLE 4.

Numbers and percent of patients (%) regarding the presence of pain, analgesic consumption and decreased or absent sensation around the wound three and six months postoperatively