Bupivacaine Moistened Dressing for Pain Relief on Skin Graft Donor Sites
Abstract
Background: Pain at the split-thickness skin graft donor site has been a great trouble for some patients especially during the first five postoperative days. Many types of dressings have been used for split skin graft donor site especially in the last twenty years period but it could not provide the effective pain relief for prolonged period.
Patients and Methods: After approvals by the ethics committee of the Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, the study was conducted from December 2000 to December 2001. Forty patients, without previous history of local anesthetic allergy, who required split-thickness skin graft for reconstruction of various defects were prospectively studied. The patients were randomly divided into two groups. Group A received bupivacaine moistened dressing and 0.5% bupivacaine hydrochloride 6 ml/100 cm2 instilled via catheter every 12 hours under aseptic technique. Group B was a control group, had saline moistened dressing and saline 6 ml/100 cm2 instilled in the same method and intervals.
Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in ages, sex, distribution of disease requiring reconstruction. The donor size was 295 cm2 for group A and 225 cm2 for group B. Pain relief scores in both groups assessed on each day of the first five days were significantly different between the two groups. First to forth day pain relief scores showed p value < 0.001. Fifth day scores showed p value <0.05. Bupivacaine moistened dressing on skin graft donor site can be done safely and satisfactory post operative analgesia can be achieved.
References
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