What can be done about deep bone pain after mitral valve replacement surgery?

Treatment for: Pain control depends upon the source of pain. Which bone is involved? Generally, for chronic pain where the source can not be removed by surgical approach, a pain control management team will be needed. Check with your doc if referral is indicated.

Depends: Sternal pain following standard heart surgery definitely impacts the recovery of our patients. Continued boney pain after a reasonable recovery period (2-3months( can be caused by an incompletely healed sternum. Often limiting arm activity and time will resolve this. A ct scan can help evaluate the extent of bone healing and look for non-union of the breast bone. Rarely do we need to rewire.