ABSTRACT
Objective To compare the clinical efficacy of postoperative analgesia between intercostal nerve freezing and con‐trolled intravenous analgesia in patients of thoracic surgery .Methods 80 patients of thoracic surgery from January 2012 to June 2013 were randomly divided into two groups :Intercostal nerve cryotherapy group (frozen group n=40) and intravenous analgesia group(control group n=40) .Frozen group :the intercostal incision and down each one intercostal and chest tube placement of inter‐costal nerve roots were frozen before sternal closure ;control group :intravenous analgesia pump were used postoperative .According to VAS method to evaluate pain level and observe adverse reactions ,complications and analgesic drug usage of postoperative pa‐tients .Results The analgesic effect of frozen group was better than that of control group within five days after thoracotomy .Com‐pared with the control group ,the incidence of adverse reactions ,postoperative complications ,and analgesic drug usage was signifi‐cantly reduced in frozen group ,there was a significant difference between the two groups (P<0 .05) .Postoperative follow‐up dis‐play :intercostal nerve area in some patients may appear numbness ,dysesthesia ,etc .,but the above situation can return to normal gradually .Conclusion The analgesic effect of intercostal nerve cryotherapy for thoracotomy patients is excellent ,and with few side effects and good safety ,and it is worthy of promotion .