Retrospective evaluation of analgesia approaches in patients undergoing thoracic surgery over the last one year: A single-center study

Objective: Providing adequate analgesia after thoracic surgery plays an important role in preventing pulmonary complications while accelerating postoperative recovery. This study aimed to retrospectively evaluate the effectiveness of analgesia approaches applied to patients who underwent thoracic surgery at Atatürk University Research Hospital in the last year. This study aimed to retrospectively evaluate the effectiveness of analgesia approaches applied to patients who underwent thoracic surgery at Atatürk University Research Hospital in the last year by comparing different analgesia methods in terms of rescue analgesia requirements.

Method: This retrospective study was conducted by examining the archive files of patients who underwent thoracic surgery between 2024-2025. Patients were classified according to the analgesia methods applied. The analgesic method used was compared according to the type of surgery applied and the need for rescue analgesia.

Results: Intravenous opioid was determined as the most frequently used analgesia method in the analyzed patient group. Rescue analgesia requirement was observed to be the lowest in patients who underwent epidural analgesia. In patients who underwent paravertebral block, it was observed that effective analgesia was provided and the need for rescue analgesia decreased.

Conclusion: Epidural analgesia and paravertebral block stand out as effective methods in analgesia management after thoracic surgery. However, the specific advantages and complication risks of each method should be considered. Secondary objectives of this study include analyzing the relationship between analgesia selection and surgical type (VATS and thoracotomy) and determining the choice of analgesia method and its rationale. It is thought that the findings of this study will contribute to the determination of optimal analgesia strategies after thoracic surgery.