[Treatment of acute pain syndrome]

The article reviews modern concepts regarding stress response and its effects on various organs and systems of critical patients. Postoperative pain is regarded with emphasis on its pathophysiology and the prospects of using epidural anesthesia-analgesia for alleviating its injurious effects. Analgesia and sedation in patients with multiple injuries is discussed. The importance of adequate analgesia for alleviation of the injurious effects of nociceptive impulses in critical patients is emphasized. Analgesia should be regarded as one of the methods of intensive care of critical patients along with respiratory support, fluid replacement, and parenteral nutrition.