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Acute Pain Control in Geriatric Patients After Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeries

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Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Elderly

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Abstract

Inadequately managed pain in elderly patients undergoing thoracic or cardiac surgery can lead to increased morbidity and mortality, increased length of stay in the intensive care unit and the hospital. Even video-assisted procedures or minimally invasive procedures have not eliminated the problem of pain management. Elderly patients are not less sensitive to pain but are more sensitive to the side effects of analgesics and adjuvants, making titration more difficult. Other means of pain control such as the employment of epidural or intrathecal local anesthetics and opioids, paravertebral catheters with the infusion of local anesthetics offer significant benefits in the overall management of these patients. In this chapter, different means of pain control in this population will be reviewed.

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  1. Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 1500 San Pablo Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA

    Jack M. Berger

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  1. Jack M. Berger
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  2. Tawfik Ayoub
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  3. Jayeshkumar Patel
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Correspondence to Jack M. Berger .

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  1. , Department of Thoracic Surgery, Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, 1000 East Mountain Drive, Wilkes-Barre, 18711, Pennsylvania, USA

    Mark R. Katlic

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Berger, J.M., Ayoub, T., Patel, J. (2011). Acute Pain Control in Geriatric Patients After Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeries. In: Katlic, M. (eds) Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Elderly. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0892-6_9

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