Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Management for Adult Patients with Burns

Patients with burns suffer from excruciating pain, thus presenting unique challenges to the hospital staff involved in their care. Any hospital system may be involved in managing smaller and less serious burns, but patients with more complicated issues are often transferred to a burn center. This article will review the pathophysiological evolution of pain immediately after burn injury to emphasize the role of complex inflammatory pathways involved in the progression of burn pain. This review also focuses on managing acute pain using a combined multimodal and regional pain management approach. Finally, we attempt to address the continuum from acute to chronic pain management and the strategies used to minimize and manage the progression to chronic pain. Chronic pain remains a debilitating outcome of burn injury, and this article discusses efforts to mitigate this complication. Available options for pain treatment are important to discuss, as current drug shortages may limit medications that can be used.