Contents



Preface

Postoperative pain (POP) is a health problem that has not yet been resolved. Without a doubt, multimodal analgesia is the greatest advance in the prevention and comprehensive management of patients with POP. Despite this advance, healthcare professionals require more knowledge to effectively manage POP since its deleterious effects manifest not only in the immediate post-surgical phase but can also be prolonged as postoperative chronic pain that is difficult to manage and interferes substantially with patient quality of life. In addition, poorly treated POP facilitates prolonged stays

Opioids have long been the basis for the management of post-surgical pain. However, the overprescription of these drugs and their illegal use have led to the current opioid crisis worldwide, which has caused more than 96,700 deaths in the United States. The current trend is to reduce the use of opioids in pain management as well as search for

*Topics in Postoperative Pain* presents some selected subjects with the goal of improving the care of surgical patients and reducing both the sequelae of POP and the side effects

The editors of this book completed residencies at the same hospital, at very different times, with teachers and changing programs that have gradually adapted to the academic and care needs of our alma mater, the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán. As graduates from the Division of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, we know about the goals, challenges, successes, and failures of the founders of our group and we wish to dedicate this book to them: Javier Ramírez Acosta, Ramon De Lille Fuentes, J. Antonio Jimenez Borreiro, and Gabriel Camacho Romero began training specialists in anesthesiology and critical medicine

Thank you very much for your wisdom, your dedication, and above all your valuable

**Victor M. Whizar-Lugo** Anesthesiologist, Lotus Med Group,

Tijuana, México

Institutos Nacionales de Salud,

and/or hospital readmissions that increase care costs.

new opioids with fewer side effects.

of its management.

in 1972.

friendship!
