[Acute pain therapy in surgery]

Pain is no fundamental illness nor should it be a concomitant handicap in any medical treatment. Nevertheless there still is a huge discrepancy between the fundamentally existing medical options of an adequate pain therapy and the actual everyday care of affected patients. An adequate pain therapy in the perioperative or posttraumatic setting represents a basic prerequisite for a rapid recovery and a reduction of any postinterventional risk of morbidity and mortality. An immediate improvement in quality of life secondary to an adequate acute pain therapy increases the chances of an early mobilization, reduces the duration of hospitalization, and thus supports the physical and social rehabilitation of patients. Above that an adequate acute pain therapy will reduce the risk of the development of any chronic pain syndrome as secondary or late effect following operative interventions. These complex interrelations finally also lead to a direct means of cost reduction in the health care system.