Does Effective Postoperative Pain Management Influence Surgical Morbidity?

It has been assumed that adequate postoperative pain relief will improve outcome from surgery, but several controlled trials have demonstrated that pain treatment with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, patient-controlled analgesia or epidural techniques will not significantly improve outcome after major procedures. In lower body procedures, however, intra- and early postoperative pain relief with epidural or spinal anaesthesia reduces blood loss and thromboembolic complications. It is hypothesized that effective postoperative pain relief may significantly improve outcome only if integrated into a multimodal rehabilitation program.