[Continuous wound infusion of local anesthetics: importance in postoperative pain therapy]

Continuous wound infusion of local anesthetics, which is mainly used in general surgery and orthopedics, is an interesting technique in postoperative pain therapy. Continuous wound infusion of local anesthetics is able to reduce postoperative opioid requirements and results in decreased pain scores. Recent studies indicate that rehabilitation seems to be enhanced and postoperative hospital stay may be shorter. Continuous wound infusion is an effective analgesic technique, which is simple to perform. Comparisons with other analgesic techniques, such as peripheral nerve blocks, epidural analgesia and other multimodal analgesic concepts are still required.