Bundang CHA Hospital implements cryoanalgesia for thoracic surgery pain

Bundang CHA Hospital’s Lung and Esophagus Center has begun implementing ‘cryoanalgesia’ to manage pain following thoracic surgeries. This method involves freezing the intercostal nerves inside the thoracic cavity during surgery to block pain signals for a period typically lasting two to three months.

Unlike traditional methods, cryoanalgesia does not require the maintenance of a separate catheter. It is intended to be used as part of a multimodal pain management strategy alongside existing analgesics or nerve blocks. The hospital plans to expand the application of this technique from pectus excavatum correction to major surgeries, including lung and esophageal cancer removals.

A randomized clinical trial involving 48 patients undergoing pectus excavatum correction showed that those receiving cryoanalgesia had significantly lower pain scores. Specifically, 48 hours after surgery, the pain score for the cryoanalgesia group was 3.17, approximately 44% lower than the 5.67 score recorded in the conventional pain management group. These findings were published in the ‘European Journal of Pediatric Surgery’.

Professor Lim Kong-min of Bundang CHA Hospital collaborated with U.S. thoracic surgeon Dr. Curtis C. Quinn to implement a ‘Cryoanalgesia Program,’ sharing clinical application methods ranging from patient selection to surgical techniques.