Patient attitudes to sternotomy and thoracotomy scars.
Thorac Cardiovasc Surg
; 53(2): 93-5, 2005 Apr.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-15786007
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
There are no data comparing patient attitudes to sternotomy and thoracotomy scars following surgery for congenital heart disease (CHD).METHODS:
Two hundred and one patients with a scar from CHD surgery (105 sternotomy, 36 thoracotomy, and 60 both scars) had a structured interview to explore attitudes to their scar.RESULTS:
Comparable proportions of each group reported that they did not like or hated their scar (23/105 [22 %] sternotomy, 9/36 [25 %] thoracotomy, 17/60 [28 %] both scars). Significantly more patients stated that they where embarrassed by and/or their choice of clothing was affected by a thoracotomy scar (20/36, 56 %) than those with a sternotomy scar (36/105, 34 %), p = 0.04. This was also seen when comparing sternotomy alone with both scars (36/105 [34 %] vs. 34/60 [57 %], p = 0.008).CONCLUSIONS:
Adults who have undergone surgery for CHD are more likely to have a negative attitude to a thoracotomy than a sternotomy scar. Before a change in surgical approach is considered based on patient preferences, the acceptability and psychological impact of the different scars following surgery needs formal study.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Sternum
/
Thoracotomy
/
Attitude to Health
/
Cicatrix
Type of study:
Qualitative_research
Aspects:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
Thorac Cardiovasc Surg
Year:
2005
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United kingdom