Prevention of Chronic Postsurgical Pain: The Effect of Preventive and Multimodal Analgesia

Chronic post-surgical pain (CPSP) is a chronic pain condition, affecting many people who have undergone surgery. The development of CPSP is complex and the treatment options are limited; therefore, postsurgical pain management is crucial for satisfactory pain relief and prevention of CPSP development. In this review, we analyzed the existing treatment modalities for patients with CPSP. The treatments include opioids, acetaminophen, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists, anticonvulsants, and local anesthesia. All treatments had signifi cant effect on CPSP and opioid-sparing effect; moreover, preventive analgesic treatment is important for improving quality of postoperative pain management. However, since most of the studies had limitations, further research on determining effective combinations and treatment modalities is required.