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Global Translational Medicine Neuropathic pain after 23-gauge sclerotomy

Table 4. Association between post‑operative disturbance of but reports surrounding pain after retinal surgery remain
quality‑of‑life items and analgesic use scarce. In this study, we evaluated ocular neuropathic
pain in retina surgeries involving 23-gauge sclerotomies.
Post‑operative disturbance Analgesic use P‑value
in items of quality‑of‑life No analgesic Analgesic Although the increasing trend of ocular pain at 2 months
questionnaire after scleral incisions was not significant, an increase
General activity 0.15±0.75 1.92±0.84 0.021 in analgesic consumption after surgery, which affects
Mood 0.16±0.77 3.69±4.35 <0.001 the quality-of-life scores in this subset of patients, was
observed. Considering the role of factors such as migraine
Normal work 0.10±0.47 2.23±3.83 0.002 headaches and the level of education in the prediction of
Relationship with others 0.00±0.00 2.92±4.13 <0.001 post-operative pain can help physicians identify and inform
Sleep 0.15±0.74 2.46±4.10 0.002 patients susceptible to this condition. Future studies with
Life enjoyment 0.10±0.65 2.92±4.11 <0.001 larger samples and longer follow-ups are warranted.
Acknowledgments
lesser analgesics (19 patients compared to 64 patients in the
20-gauge group) 1 week after surgery. 13 None.
Although ocular pain scores did not alter significantly Funding
after surgery, a significant proportion of our patients used
analgesics afterward. This subset of patients scored worse None.
in the items of the quality-of-life questionnaire. In fact,
analgesic consumption may have masked the ocular pain Conflict of interest
symptoms, in exchange for a decrease in quality of life. The The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
previous studies have shown that the use of oral analgesics
is an independent predictor of lower scores of quality of Author contributions
16
life. Using NSAIDs is associated with fatigue, anxiety, and Conceptualization: Fardin Yousefshahi, Nazanin
17
depression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Based Ebrahimiadib
on our findings, higher scores of ocular and facial pain, as Data curation: Hanieh Niktinat, Kaveh Fadakar, Farid
well as photophobia before surgery, herald higher odds of Kalantaritarari, Marjan Imani Fooladi
analgesic use after surgery. Detection of risk factors and Formal analysis: Golshan Latifi, Parichehr Ghahari,
appropriate management of post-operative ophthalmic Mehrdad Goudarzi
pain may reduce the number of analgesic-dependent Methodology: Farid Kalantaritarari, Marjan Imani Fooladi,
patients and may result in a more satisfactory outcome. Mehrdad Goudarzi
Although it is reported that the presence of underlying Project administration: Hanieh Niktinat, Nazanin
conditions such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, Ebrahimiadib
musculoskeletal pain, and depression may affect the rate of Resources: Hanieh Niktinat, Fardin Yousefshahi, Kaveh
reported pain symptoms, 8,9,18 we did not find any correlation Fadakar, Nazanin Ebrahimiadib
between baseline and post-operative eye pain in this regard. Writing – original draft: Hanieh Niktinat, Fardin
The only underlying factors that could be considered predictive Yousefshahi, Kaveh Fadakar, Farid Kalantaritarari
factors for post-operative eye pain were found to be migraine Writing – review & editing: Golshan Latifi, Marjan Imani
headaches and the level of education. It is known that in Fooladi, Parichehr Ghahari, Mehrdad Goudarzi,
neuropathic pain syndromes, social, and psychiatric issues play Nazanin Ebrahimiadib
a significant role in the perception of pain by the patients. 19
The present study has several limitations. First, Ethics approval and consent to participate
the sample size is relatively small. Second, we did not The questionnaire and methodology for this study were
record the dose and frequency of analgesic used after approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of
surgery. Furthermore, we did not collect and analyze the Tehran University of Medical Sciences (Approval No:
data of intraoperative surgical steps such as endolaser IR.TUMS.IKHC.REC.1397.162). Written informed consent
photocoagulation or scleral indentation. was obtained from all participants included in this study.
5. Conclusion Consent for publication

Most current studies have focused on the investigations of Written informed consent for publishing data was obtained
post-operative pain in different anterior segment surgeries, from all participants.

Volume 3 Issue 2 (2024) 6 doi: 10.36922/gtm.1770