Chronic post-surgical pain: 10 years on

Abstract

In the past ten years there has been recognition that chronic post-surgical pain is a significant problem. This is a complex area of research and although the quality of studies has improved many difficulties remain. Several recent publications have examined risk factors. Severe acute postoperative pain emerges as a factor that we may be able to influence. There is a need for education of the medical profession and the general public, so that effective measures are introduced and unnecessary and inappropriate operations minimized.

Potential strategies for preventing chronic postoperative pain: a practical approach: Continuing Professional Development

“…Les revues récentes issues de la dernière décennie rapportent que 10 à 50 % des patients manifestent des douleurs chroniques après six « chirurgies communes » (amputation, chirurgie du sein, thoracotomie, hernie inguinale, pontages coronariens, césarienne), et que 2 à 10 % de ces patients présentent des douleurs chroniques handicapantes (douleur[5 sur 10) à six mois de la chirurgie. 2,3 D'autres revues plus récentes rapportent une incidence similaire. [4][5][6][7] Néanmoins, la définition elle-même de DCPC joue un rôle majeur dans l'incidence rapportée par les auteurs.…”

Preventive Analgesia and Novel Strategies for the Prevention of Chronic Post-Surgical Pain

“…These patients are often managed quite poorly and may leave the hospital on more analgesic medications than when they were triaged presurgically [89,90]. It is important to prospectively determine which patients should be aggressively treated within the perioperative time period in the hopes of reducing the alarming percentage of patients (25 %) referred to tertiary pain care centers presenting with a CPSP condition [4].…”

“…Currently, there is no universally agreed upon definition of CPSP. However, Macrae and Davies [1] define CPSP as pain that developed after a surgical procedure, of at least 2 months duration, and not the result of other causes or a pre-existing pain problem [4].…”

Case report and literature review of chronic neuropathic pain associated with peripheral venous cannulation

“…depression, catastrophising); neuropathic sensory abnormalities; and persistent severe pain at three months [9,10]. Certainly, there is also evidence to suggest that clinical conditions, such as migraine (from which our patient suffered), fibromyalgia syndrome, irritable bowel, irritable bladder, backache and Raynaud's syndrome, might also have an underlying genetic pre-disposition to the development of postsurgical pain [11].…”