Postoperative schmerztherapie

Abstract

Postoperative pain therapy, i.e. the symptomatic treatment of the acute post-surgical pain, is an interdisciplinary obligation for the managing surgeon and the responsible anaesthesiologist. Pain therapy is also an interprofessional obligation, which includes the nursing staff in the recovery room, the intensive and intermediate care unit and the general ward. Easy, safe and effective methods of postoperative pain therapy are discussed. After extensive surgery, the use of regional analgesia via a catheter, e.g. epidural analgesia, or patient controlled intravenous analgesia, in addition to a basic analgesia has become widely accepted. A standardized step-concept for postoperative pain management should be integrated into the multimodal perioperative treatment program. © 2007 Springer Medizin Verlag.