Response to “VATS vs. thoracotomy regarding postoperative chronic pain”

The first point made by the commentary was related with “The definition of the primary endpoint (chronic pain after 6 months in relation to what?)”. The International Association for the Study of Pain (1) defines chronic postsurgical pain as pain persisting at least 3 months after surgery. The primary outcome variable of our study was chronic pain related to thoracic surgery (yes/no) at 6 months after surgery, based on the following question: “Do you currently have pain related to your thoracic surgery?” Those patients with chronic pain related to thoracic surgery at 6 months after surgery were compared to those patients without such pain at that time.