Med Lasers.  2020 Jun;9(1):39-43. 10.25289/ML.2020.9.1.39.

Satisfaction with the Effect of Local Dynamical Micromassage Therapy on the Pain and Discomfort after Breast Reconstruction Surgery

• Ahn KH
• Lee SJ
• Park ES
• Park YG

• KMID: 2533463
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.25289/ML.2020.9.1.39

Abstract

Background and Objectives
Breast reconstruction has the advantage of reducing the loss of the body image of patients after mastectomy surgery, and also improving the quality of the social and sexual life of breast cancer patients. However, in surprising and unfortunate number of patients, acute postoperative pain persists beyond the normal course of postsurgical recovery. We set out to investigate the effect of local dynamical micro-massage (LDM) treatment for achieving pain relief and reducing other postoperative complications.
Materials and Methods
We performed a retrospective analysis on 58 patients who underwent LDM treatment for postoperative pain management at Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital between February 2017 and June 2019. Those patients who complained of persistent postoperative pain, which was uncontrollable with medication, were treated with LDM. The degree of pain and discomfort with contracture were recorded using numerical rating scale (NRS) scoring system with numbers from 0 to 10 (‘none' to 'worst').
Results
The median NRS score of pain was reduced by 62.3% from the start to the end of LDM treatment (p <0.001). Further, the NRS score of discomfort with contracture was reduced 66.0% (p<0.001). There was no complication related to the LDM treatment.
Conclusion
Dual-frequency ultrasound LDM can be an effective therapeutic option for persisting pain after breast reconstruction surgery. It was also effective in improvement of discomfort with contracture and erythema of the surgical wound.

Keyword

Dual-frequency ultrasound; Local dynamical micro-massage; Postope rative pain; Contracture; Breast reconstruction