Multimodal Analgesia for Perioperative Pain Management

Multimodal analgesia captures the effectiveness of individual agents in optimal dosages that maximize efficacy and attempts to minimize side effects from one analgesic (mainly opioids). This important concept employs the theory that agents with different mechanisms of analgesia that may have synergistic effects in preventing or treating acute pain when used in combination. These regimens must be tailored to individual patients, keeping in mind the procedure being performed, side effects of individual medications, and patients’ pre-existing medical conditions.1 The concept and theory of multimodal analgesia is not new; however several novel pharmacological agents have emerged and can be added to the drugs that can be used in this fashion. It is vital to realize that blocking the neuronal pathway during surgery with local anesthetics does not decrease the humeral biochemical responses that occur during surgery which have to be inhibited by administering systemic pharmacological therapy.2 This abstract will only focus on the recent advances in pharmacological agents for multimodal therapy.