SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate postoperative pain and quality of life in patients undergoing median sternotomy. METHODS: A cohort study was carried out on a sample of 30 patients who underwent elective cardiac surgery by longitudinal median sternotomy. Patients were interviewed at Intensive Care Unit discharge and hospital discharge, when the Visual Numeric Scale and the Brief Pain Inventory were applied, and 2 weeks after hospital discharge, when the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Bref questionnaire was administered. The normality of the results was analyzed by the Shapiro-Wilk test, and Wilcoxon Rank Sum and McNemar tests were utilized for the analysis of numerical and categorical variables. For correlation between numerical variables, Spearman's linear correlation test was applied. To compare numerical variables, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were applied. Differences between groups were considered significant when the p-value was <0.05. RESULTS: Between Intensive Care Unit and hospital discharge, there was a reduction in median pain intensity assessed by the Visual Numeric Scale from 5.0 to 2.0 (p<0.001), as well as in eight Brief Pain Inventory parameters: worst pain intensity in the last 24 h (p=0.001), analgesic relief (p=0.035), and pain felt right now (p=0.009); and in interference in daily activities (p<0.001), mood (p=0.017), ability to walk (p<0.001), relationship with other people (p=0.005), and sleep (p=0.006). Higher pain intensity at Intensive Care Unit discharge was associated with worse performance in the psychological domain of quality of life at out-of-hospital follow-up. CONCLUSION: Proper management of post-sternotomy pain in the Intensive Care Unit may imply better quality of life at out-of-hospital follow-up.

ABSTRACT Introduction: The primary aim of this systematic review is to provide perioperative strategies to help restore or preserve cardiovascular services under threat from financial and personnel constraints imposed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: The Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, Excerpta Medica dataBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials/CCTR, and Google Scholar were systematically searched using the search terms “(cardiac OR cardiology OR cardiothoracic OR surgery) AND (COVID-19 or coronavirus OR SARS-CoV-2 OR 2019-nCoV OR 2019 novel coronavirus OR pandemic)”. Additionally, the webpages of relevant medical societies, including the World Federation Society of Anesthesiologists, the Cardiothoracic Surgery Network, and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, were screened for relevant information. Results: Whereas cardiac surgery and cardiology practices were reduced by 50-75% during the pandemic, mortality of patients with COVID-19 increased significantly. Healthcare workers are among those at high risk of infection with COVID-19. Conclusion: Hospitals must provide maximum protective equipment and training on how to use it to healthcare workers for their mutual protection. Triage management of patients — which accounts for patient’s clinical status and risk-factor profile relatable to which services are available during the COVID-19 pandemic — is recommended. A strict reorganization of the hospital resources including preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative detailed protective measures is necessary to reduce probability of vector contamination, to protect patients and the cardiovascular teams, and to permit safe resumption of cardiological and cardiac surgical activity.