[Treatment of postoperative pain--a status report]

Substantial progress has been made in our understanding of acute pain mechanisms, and our insight into postoperative convalescence and rehabilitation has increased dramatically. There is a lack of evidence for pre-emptive analgesia, whereas studies of antihyperalgesic drugs and multimodal analgesic regimens are promising. The use of opioids should be restricted, and it may be rational to develop procedure-specific pain treatment guidelines. There is a need for increased collaboration and integration of acute pain treatment and multimodal postoperative rehabilitation efforts.