Effect of continuous saline irrigation during operation on the incision pain relief after posterior lumbar surgery

Objective To explore the effect of continuous saline irrigation and cooling during posterior lumbar surgery using high-frequency electric knife to expose lumbar lamina on postoperative incision pain. Methods A total of 34 adult patients with lumbar intraspinal tumor were included in present study who received surgical treatment from August 2017 to July 2018 in Changzheng Hospital Affiliated to Navy Medical University, and were randomly divided into irrigated group (n=17) and nonirrigated group (n=17). Patients in irrigated group received continuous normal saline irrigation for cooling surgical field, while those in non-irrigated group did not receive such treatment. The time required for exposure of bilateral lamina, the temperature of tissues around the electrosurgical scalpel, degree of thermal damage of muscle tissue, postoperative C-reactive protein level, the visual analogue scale (VAS) scores at 1st, 2nd and 3rd day after operation, and the amount of analgesics were compared between the two groups. Results The time required for exposure of bilateral lamina was obviously longer in irrigated group than in nonirrigated group [(29.12±4.68) min vs. (24.94±3.23) min, P0.05) between the two groups. The VAS score and the amount of analgesics were obviously lower in irrigated group than in non-irrigated group at the 1st day after operation (P0.0.5) at the 2nd and 3rd day after operation. Conclusion Continuous normal saline irrigation may reduce the thermal damage of muscle tissue to some extent after posterior lumbar surgery, and relieve the postoperative pain. DOI: 10.11855/j.issn.0577-7402.2020.11.07