Preemptive Analgesia with Bupivacaine in Reduction Mammaplasty

Abstract

Sir:We thank Drs. Huang and Wang for their interest in our recent publication in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery entitled "Preemptive Analgesia with Bupivacaine in Reduction Mammaplasty: A Prospective, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial." 1 We appreciate their criticisms of our work. It is essential for all of us to continue to be critical of ourselves and open to the well-formulated opinions of others to improve as plastic surgeons and medical researchers.Unfortunately, in their letter, they show a lack of epidemiology and biostatistics knowledge, especially regarding interpretation of the variables in Table 3. Listing separately the average value and standard deviation for the parameters in each group, as they suggested, will not show any new information, and will only add more numbers. 2 We really think that simplicity is the evolution of complexity.In our study, we used a value of p < 0.05. Thus, our article assumes the probability of a 5 percent chance of committing a type I error (i.e., rejecting that there is no relationship between bupivacaine pain reduction and the variables studied when this relationship does in fact exist). If our study were within this 5 percent of error, it would only mean that it was not able to (based on the available data) demonstrate the falsity that the pain reduction using bupivacaine would be related to to investigate pain 6 and 12 hours after surgery, because other analgesics (dipyrone/tenoxicam) were administered then.