[New and evidence-based aspects of postoperative pain therapy]

Poorly managed postoperative pain has been recognised to delay patient recovery and hospital discharge. Recent metaanalyses support a multimodal approach with combinations of analgesics from different classes. The pharmacological options of commonly used opioids, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and other nonopioid analgesics in combination have been shown to provide effective pain relief and to reduce opioid consumption. Local, intraarticular, epidural, and, more importantly, modern peripheral regional techniques can be used successfully to enhance perioperative analgesia. The use of continuous perineural techniques with local anaesthetic infusion has been extended beyond hospital discharge in many European countries.