Comparison of early postoperative pain among surgical techniques for obstructive sleep apnea

One of the criticized aspects of surgeries for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is postoperative pain. We performed a study to compare the severity of pain occurring after different surgical techniques and to determine analgesic requirements in the first postoperative 24 h. Forty-eight patients with primary snoring or OSA who underwent anterior palatoplasty (AP), lateral pharyngoplasty (LP) or tongue base suspension suture (TBS) were included in this study. A visual analog scale (VAS) was used for measuring pain intensity. Tramadol with patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) device and when necessary rescue pethidine was used for pain relief. VAS pain scores, total PCA-tramadol consumptions and requirement of rescue analgesic in AP, LP and TBS groups were compared. Pain scores in TBS group were higher than AP group in all of the study time points except at 12th hour and LP group until the 10th hour. When compared with AP group, VAS was significantly higher in LP group at the 1st hour. Mean total tramadol consumptions were significantly different between the groups (AP–LP, p = 0.039; AP–TBS, p < 0.001; LP–TBS, p < 0.001). It was highest in the TBS group and lowest in the AP group. In the LP group, three patients (16.7 %) needed rescue analgesia in comparison with 11 (73.3 %) in the TBS group. None of the patients in the AP group needed rescue analgesic. AP is the least painful and TBS is the most painful procedure. PCA-bolus tramadol effectively treats pain caused by AP and LP; however, alleviation of pain caused by TBS usually needs rescue opioid analgesic.