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Prevention of postoperative pain

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

It is better to prevent the onset of postoperative pain by prophylactic measures:

  • infiltration of wound with local anaesthetic:
    • usually carried out by surgeon at time of operation
    • example of drug used is 0.5% bupivacaine, 2mg/kg in any four hour period
  • regional anaesthesia:
    • epidural anaesthesia is most common
    • other examples, include intercostal nerve blocks, brachial plexus and femoral nerve block
  • regular administration of a standard dose of intravenous analgesic, e.g. opioids. May be given in boluses or by continuous pump infusion with or without the option for self-administration of boluses by the patient.

More details about these techniques are given in the section on analgesia.

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