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Pre-Emptive Analgesia for Postoperative Pain Control

A Review

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Abstract

Pain can play an important role at the social and psychological level; hence one of the major goals of anaesthesia is to control and reduce the incidence of postoperative pain. The use of an analgesia before surgical incision may offer one of the most innovative and promising strategies for better pain control throughout the perioperative period. Pre-emptive analgesia refers to pharmacological intervention initiated prior to a painful stimulus in order to inhibit nociceptive mechanisms before they are triggered. Pre-emptive analgesia has three objectives: to reduce pain resulting from the activation of inflammatory mechanisms triggered by surgical incision; to hinder the pain memory response of the central nervous system; and to ensure a good control of postoperative pain in order to avoid the development of chronic pain. The following provides an overview of the scientific rationale for pre-emptive analgesia alongside an overview of published systematic reviews and randomized clinical trials related to this topic.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Melanie Gatt of inScience Communications, a Wolters Kluwer business, who provided English-language and editorial assistance in the preparation of this article. This assistance was funded by Molteni Farmaceutici, Inc., Italy. Laura Campiglia, Guglielmo Consales and Angelo Raffaele De Gaudio declare no relevant conflicts of interest relevant to this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anaesthesiology, Intensive-Care Unit and Pain Therapy Department, Misericordia e Dolce Hospital, Prato, Italy

    Laura Campiglia & Guglielmo Consales

  2. Intensive-Care and Surgery Department, University of Florence and Careggi University Hospital, Florence, Italy

    Angelo Raffaele De Gaudio

Authors
  1. Laura Campiglia
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  2. Guglielmo Consales
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  3. Angelo Raffaele De Gaudio
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Correspondence to Laura Campiglia.

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Campiglia, L., Consales, G. & De Gaudio, A.R. Pre-Emptive Analgesia for Postoperative Pain Control. Clin. Drug Investig. 30 (Suppl 2), 15–26 (2010). https://doi.org/10.2165/1158411-S0-000000000-00000

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