Chronic pain after surgery and trauma: current situation and future directions

Abstract

Chronic post-surgical pain (CPSP) stands as a major health issue. The unchanged incidence over the last two decades underlines both the failure of predictive models developed until now and the lack of efficacy of common “preventive” strategies (pharmacotherapy and regional analgesic techniques) applied in current clinical practice. The recognition of CPSP as a disease and the release of a common definition of the condition is an important progress in the field. CPSP predictive scores exist but none has presently demonstrated an impact on patient care. New clinical directions based on the resolution of postoperative pain, a complex and highly dynamic process supported by individual pain trajectories, argue for predictive models and preventive strategies extended to the subacute pain period i.e. after hospital discharge.