The Transition of Acute Postoperative Pain to Chronic Pain: An Integrative Overview of Research on Mechanisms

Prediction of persistent post‐operative pain: Pain‐specific psychological variables compared with acute post‐operative pain and general psychological variables

“…The intensity of acute post‐operative pain did not turn out to be a significant predictor of chronic pain intensity or disability, which is in contrast to previous findings (Katz et al., ; Perkins and Kehlet, ; Kehlet et al., ; Katz and Seltzer, ; Chapman and Vierck, ). Only acute pain‐related disability emerged as significant single predictor of chronic disability.…”

General versus pain‐specific cognitions: Pain catastrophizing but not optimism influences conditioned pain modulation

“…Pain catastrophizing is one of the main prognostic factors of pain persistence after an acute pain episode (e.g., Wertli et al., ) and after surgical procedures (Jackson, Tian, Wang, Iezzi, & Xie, ; Sobol‐Kwapinska et al., ). Less efficient enodogenous pain inhibition because of pain catastrophizing may lead to high pain intensity in the acute phase of injury, which can have a sensitizing influence on the nociceptive system (Chapman & Vierck, ). Indeed, less efficient CPM has previously been found related to higher levels of clinical pain (Vaegter & Graven‐Nielsen, ; Yarnitsky, ) and increased risk of persistent pain after surgery (Ossipov, Morimura, & Porreca, ; Petersen, Graven‐Nielsen, Simonsen, Laursen, & Arendt‐Nielsen, ; Yarnitsky et al., ).…”

Prediction of Acute Postoperative Pain from Assessment of Pain Associated With Venous Cannulation

“…Even so, the acute postoperative pain has been linked to persistent postoperative pain, and many believe that predicting and preventing early postoperative pain might lead to less persistent pain . One must also not forget that except for inconveniences to the patient, major medical risks are also associated with severe acute postoperative pain, like pulmonary or cardiovascular complications, further highlighting the importance of more individualized perioperative evaluation, prevention, and treatment …”

“…A German study comparing pain scores on the first day after surgery in 50,000 patients reported high pain scores after many types of surgery . Current focus is shifting from procedure‐specific to individualized therapeutic strategies to better manage acute postoperative pain in an effort to also reduce individual risks for developing persistent postoperative pain . Predicting the risk for a specific patient is an important part of that strategy.…”