The impact of ice bag on pain intencity associated with pulling sutures of the leg vein removal after cardiac surgery

Suturing, is the most common way to close wounds and non-absorable sutures must be removed. Suture removal is a painful process. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the application of ice bag on pain intensity from pulling sutures of the leg vein removal among patients undergoing cardiac surgery. This single-blinded clinical trial, three groups before and after intervention, was conducted on 90 post cardiac surgery patients who had at least 20 cm incision in surgical site (leg vein removal) and hospitalysed in Imam Reza Hospital of Mashhad, Iran. In group 1, Ice bags were applied on surgical site for 10 minutes and in group 2 for 20 minutes before sutures removal. Participants in the control group did not receive any intervention. Pain intensity was measured by visual analog scale before and immediately after sutures removed. Data analysis was done by ANOVA, Paired T test, Chi-square and Fisher exact tests. There was no significant difference in pain intensity scores between three groups before sutures removal. Immediately after sutures removal, pain intensity score in group1 (2/53±0/93) and group2 (1/60±0/85) were significantly less than the control group (4/13±1/40). Applying ice bag can be considerd as an effective, cheap and low risk intervention for decreasing pain associated with sutures removal.