The management of peri- and postprocedural pain in interventional radiology: a narrative review

Interventional radiology encompasses a wide range of procedures and the degree of associated pain depends predominantly on the procedure being undertaken. Procedures may be painful during but not after the procedure, relatively painless during but painful after the procedure, or relatively painless during and after the procedure. However, there is a lack of good quality publications in interventional radiology that specifically address the subject of peri- and postprocedural pain management. Nevertheless, a variety of more or less complex protocols exist for intraprocedural sedation and for peri- and postprocedural analgesia. While weight-based protocols for procedural sedation have demonstrable benefit, protocols for postprocedural pain relief after major procedures have not been sufficiently rigorously evaluated.