Preventing Chronic Postsurgical Pain

Epidemiology of Chronic Postsurgical Pain

Chronic postsurgical pain has a global incidence of 30 %, while surgery is the second commonest cause of neuropathic pain. The operations most commonly implicated in chronic postsurgical pain are inguinal hernia repair, breast surgery, amputation, cholecystectomy and thoracotomy. Possible risk factors are the existence of preoperative pain, psychological characteristics of the patient, certain ...

Preventing chronic postsurgical pain: how much of a difference makes a difference?

AFTER surgical procedures such as amputation, mastectomy, and thoracotomy, as many as 60% of patients continue to experience pain for at least 6 months, with approximately 10% reporting severe pain. These chronic postsurgical pain conditions have major adverse effects on health-related quality of life, including physical functioning and emotional well-being. Unfortunately, the efficacy of exist...

Chronic Postsurgical Pain: Definition, Impact, and Prevention

Chronic postsurgical pain: still a neglected topic?

BACKGROUND Surgical injury can frequently lead to chronic pain. Despite the obvious importance of this problem, the first publications on chronic pain after surgery as a general topic appeared only a decade ago. This study tests the hypothesis that chronic postsurgical pain was, and still is, represented insufficiently. METHODS We analyzed the presentation of this topic in journal articles co...

Chronic spinal infusion of loperamide alleviates postsurgical pain in rats.

Plantar incision in rat generates spontaneous pain behaviour. The opioid drug, morphine used to treat postsurgical pain produces tolerance after long-term administration. Loperamide, a potent mu-opioid agonist, has documented analgesic action in various pain conditions. However, loperamide analgesia and associated tolerance following continuous spinal administration in postsurgical pain has not...