{"id":5655,"date":"2026-07-31T11:38:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T09:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/?p=5655"},"modified":"2026-07-31T11:38:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T09:38:00","slug":"cvja-2026-023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-023\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigation of the effect of sternum retractor opening distance on postoperative pain in cardiac surgery operations performed with median sternotomy"},"content":{"rendered":"    <div id=\"article\">                                                                                                                        \r\n        <div id=\"title-container\">                                                                                                    \r\n        <div id=\"authors-title\">                                                                                                            \r\n        <!--Aurthors under Title-->                                                                                                            \r\n            \r\nHakan \u00d6z\u00e7elik, Mesut Engin, Orhan G\u00fcven\u00e7, Ufuk Ayd\u0131n, Yusuf Ata, Miktat Arif Haberal, \u015eenol Yavuz\r\n<\/div>        \r\n<\/div>                                                                                                                            \r\n            <div id=\"copyright\">\r\n        <strong>Copyright:<\/strong> Clinics Cardive Publishing (Pty) Ltd. publisher\r\n        of Cardiovascular Journal of Africa.<\/div>\r\n    <div style=\"clear: both;\"><\/div>                                                                                                                                \r\n        <div id=\"article-abstract\">                                                                                                            \r\n            <div id=\"abstract-title\">                                                                                                        \r\n                    Abstract                                                                                                                \r\n                <\/div>                                                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                \r\n            <div id=\"abstract-content\">                                                                                                        \r\n            <!--Content of Abstract Article-->                                                                                                \r\n            <!--<strong>\"Abstract titles\":<\/strong>-->                                                                                        \r\n            <!--<br\/> at the end of each section!!-->                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                                    \r\n\r\n        <strong>Objectives:<\/strong>                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                    \r\nPain that develops after cardiac surgery can negatively affect early recovery. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of sternal retractor opening on post-sternotomy pain in cardiac surgeries performed with median sternotomy.\r\n<br \/>    \r\n\r\n        <strong>Methods:<\/strong>                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                    \r\nPatients who underwent open cardiac surgery with median sternotomy in our clinic between September 2023 and March 2025 were included in this retrospective study. Postoperative pain assessments were performed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) at the 2nd hour (VAS0), 6th hour (VAS1), first day (postoperative 24th hour) (VAS2), and second day (postoperative 48th hour) (VAS3) after extubation. Patients were divided into two groups: those with sternum retractor opening less than 9 cm (Group 1) and those with 9 cm or more (Group 2).\r\n<br \/>\r\n                \r\n                <strong>Results:<\/strong>                                                                                                    \r\nA total of 124 patients were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 59.8 \u00b1 14.2 years (range: 19\u201381), and 67 (54%) patients were female. As a result of the analysis, a statistically significant difference was found between the groups only in VAS0 values. While the median VAS0 value was 4 (range: 0\u201310) in Group 1, it was found to be 6 (range: 0\u201310) in Group 2 (P = 0.033). Although VAS1, VAS2, and VAS3 values were higher in Group 2, there was no statistically significant difference (P values: P = 0.132, P = 0.421, P = 0.267, respectively).\r\n<br \/>\r\n                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n        <strong>Conclusions:<\/strong>                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                    \r\nAlthough there was no statistically significant difference in the pain evaluations at the sixth postoperative hour, on the first day, and on the second day, we found that patients with smaller retractor openings had lower pain scores.\r\n<br \/>    \r\n                                                                                                        \r\n\r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n            <\/div>                                                                                                                            \r\n        <\/div>                                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n        <div id=\"keywords\">                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                            \r\n            <strong>Keywords:<\/strong>                                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                            \r\n            <strong>sternum, median sternotomy, pain, postoperative period, cardiac surgery<\/strong>                                                                                                                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n        <\/div>                                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n    <div id=\"publish-info\">                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                \r\n    <strong>Submitted:<\/strong> February 28, 2026; <!--Month day, year; -->    \r\n    <strong>Accepted:<\/strong> April 8, 2026; <!--Month day, year; -->                                                                            \r\n    <strong>Published:<\/strong> July 31, 2026<!--Month day, year; -->                                                                                                                            <br \/>                                                            \r\n        <em>Cardiovasc J Afr 2025; <b>37<\/b>: 294-298<!--pg no. till pg no. \"eg. 4-7\"--><\/em>\r\n        <br \/><strong>Volume 37, Issue 3<\/strong> <br \/>                                                                            \r\n        <\/div>                                                                                                                            \r\n                                                                                                                                        \r\n    <div id=\"DOI\">                                                                                                                    \r\n            DOI Citation Reference: dx.doi.org\/10.5830\/CVJA-2026-023<!--DOI number-->                                                                \r\n        <\/div>                                                                                                                            \r\n                \r\n                <div id=\"author-affiliation\">                                                                                                \r\n\r\n\r\n<strong>University of Health Sciences, Bursa Yuksek Ihtisas Training and Research Hospital, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Bursa, T\u00fcrkiye\r\n\r\n<\/strong>    <br \/>                                                                            \r\nHakan \u00d6z\u00e7elik<br \/>\r\nMesut Engin<br \/>\r\nOrhan G\u00fcven\u00e7<br \/>\r\nUfuk Ayd\u0131n<br \/>\r\nYusuf Ata<br \/>\r\n\u015eenol Yavuz\r\n<br \/><br \/>   \r\n\r\n<strong>University of Health Sciences, Bursa Yuksek Ihtisas Training and Research Hospital, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Bursa, T\u00fcrkiye\r\n\r\n<\/strong>    <br \/>                                                                            \r\nMiktat Arif Haberal\r\n<br \/><br \/>   \r\n  \r\n\r\n                [soshsc hide=\"logged\"]\r\n                <strong>You need to be <a style=\"color: #c80c44;\" href=\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/member-login\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">logged in to view and download<\/a> the full text PDF version. <a style=\"color: #c80c44;\" href=\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/register\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Register for a free account?<\/a><\/strong> <br \/><br \/>[\/soshsc]\r\n                \r\n                \r\n                \r\n                <\/div>\r\n    \r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pain that develops after cardiac surgery can negatively affect early recovery. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of sternal retractor opening on post-sternotomy pain in cardiac surgeries performed with median sternotomy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cardiovascular-topics","category-volume-37-issue-3"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Investigation of the effect of sternum retractor opening distance on postoperative pain in cardiac surgery operations performed with median sternotomy - Cardiovascular Journal of Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pain that develops after cardiac surgery can negatively affect early recovery. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of sternal retractor opening on post-sternotomy pain in cardiac surgeries performed with median sternotomy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-023\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Investigation of the effect of sternum retractor opening distance on postoperative pain in cardiac surgery operations performed with median sternotomy - Cardiovascular Journal of Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pain that develops after cardiac surgery can negatively affect early recovery. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of sternal retractor opening on post-sternotomy pain in cardiac surgeries performed with median sternotomy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-023\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cardiovascular Journal of Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-31T09:38:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jaco Moolman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jaco Moolman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-023\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2026-023\/\",\"name\":\"Investigation of the effect of sternum retractor opening distance on postoperative pain in cardiac surgery operations performed with median sternotomy - Cardiovascular Journal of Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-31T09:38:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/6bf8a30a039e93fd8112db707affb920\"},\"description\":\"Pain that develops after cardiac surgery can negatively affect early recovery. 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