Study Objective: To determine the incidence of chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) in women after open thoracotomy. Secondary objectives were to compare relevant patient and procedural variables between women and men. Design: Observational cohort study. Setting: Ten university-affiliated hospitals. Subjects: Ninety-six women and 137 men. Interventions: Scheduled open thoracotomy. Measurements: Pain histories, psychological measures, and perceived health status and catastrophizing scores were obtained. The diagnosis of chronic postsurgical pain was by physical examination at 4 months. Standard preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative data were also recorded. Main Results: The chronic postsurgical pain incidence was significantly higher in women (53.1%) than in men (38.0%) (p = 0.023). At baseline, women had significantly worse scores on psychological measures (perception of mental state [p = 0.01], depression [p = 0.006], and catastrophizing [p < 0.001]). Women also reported more preoperative pain in the operative area (p = 0.011) and other areas (p = 0.030). Conclusion: These findings show that the incidence of physician-diagnosed chronic postsurgical pain is higher in women than in men after surgeries involving thoracotomy. Sex and gender should be included in future clinical research on pain in surgical settings. (c) 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

The pandemic of COVID-19 requires rapid and easy access to reliable imaging modalities for diagnosis and follow up. Considering the cost-effectiveness of the imaging used, ultrasound is a non-ionizing, portable and bedside imaging modality with a high diagnostic impact in emergencies and intensive care units in pandemics, but it is operator dependent. In our article, we provide a comprehensive review of the role of point-of-care ultrasound in the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection and its impact on the lungs, cardiovascular system, eyes and abdominal organs. Moreover, ultrasound can provide real-time diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, such as the placement of a central catheter and aspiration of pericardial effusion. Awareness of health care professionals in the front-line fighting COVID-19 infection in emergency rooms, clinics, and in intensive care units is important and will help rapid and targeted management decisions.

Background: To evaluate analgesic practices in perioperative treatment during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic; recording parameters collected in the PAIN OUT database, and to compare COVID and no-COVID data. Methods: Data were analyzed for 277 patients (87 COVID-19 confirmed diagnosis and 190 non-COVID): years aged, gender, minutes of surgery duration, Likert Scale punctuation, hours in severe pain, minimum and maximum pain intensity, interference with sleep quality, anxiety, need for help, nausea, drowsiness, itching, dizziness, perception of care, pain relief, participation, satisfaction, and information received. Results: Postoperative mortality 1 month after surgery was recorded at 25.3% in COVID-19. Significant differences were found in postoperative pain intensity (p = 0.019), time with severe pain (p < 0.01), lower sleep quality (p < 0.01), and better outcomes in functional items (p < 0.01); there were more side effects and satisfaction with pain relief (p < 0.01) in COVID-patients than with no COVID-19 patients. Conclusions: In conclusion, COVID-19 patients presented greater intensity and duration of severe postoperative pain, greater somnolence, pruritus, and dizziness, lower physical activity limitation, and higher quality index.