TITLE:
The Evaluation of the Effect of TENS Therapy on Reducing Acute and Chronic Pain Following Varicocelectomy
AUTHORS:
Dawood Agamohammadi, Haleh Farzin, Solmaz Fakhari, Roshide Siami
KEYWORDS:
Varicocelectomy, TENS, Pain
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Internal Medicine,
Vol.7 No.3,
August
9,
2017
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Post-varicocelectomy
pain is a considerable pain with probability of promotion toward chronicity. Some
reasons, including surgical technique or nerve injury and inappropriate
attention to treatment of acute pain play role in the emergence of acute pain.
The pain could lead to limitation in movement and working, patient
dissatisfaction and waste of medical resources. Transcutaneous electrical nerve
stimulation (TENS) therapy as the patient control analgesia (PCA) is associated
with reduction of pain intensity and analgesic consumptions. This study aimed
to evaluate the effect of TENS therapy on reducing the acute and chronic pain
following varicocelectomy. Methods and Materials: The study was
conducted after obtaining the approval of the local Institute Ethics Committee
and written informed consent from all of the patients. Eighty patients
scheduled for undergoing varicocelectomy, were randomly classified according to
a randomization list prepared using online software at a 1:1 ratio to Groups A (intervention group) and B (placebo group). In postoperative and recovery
period, Group A received TENS therapy for 30 minutes in parallel to surgical
scar with high frequency by sensory level. Group B was treated with off-device.
The treatment course was replicated for the two groups at 2, 6, 12 and 24 hours after operation. Then, postoperative
pain was measured by VAS (visual analogue scale) at the same time and after 1
week and 1, 2 and 3
months. The amount of used analgesics was recorded. Results: The results
showed that based on the VAS, pain significantly decreased after intervention
in 2 hours (25% with VAS = 5 versus 32.5% with VAS = 8 in control group). The differences among, amount of used analgesics at 2, 6 and 12
hours were significant with p-value = 0.001, Conclusion: TENS therapy could efficiently decrease
pain degree for hours, weeks and months after varicocelectomy; this was associated
with decreased post-operation analgesic requirements.