Management of Neuropathic Postoperative Pain

Abstract

Pain following surgery is routine and unavoidable but expected to resolve with time. In some cases, postoperative pain persists as the result of a neuropathic process such as a neuroma or nerve entrapment. Postoperative neuropathic pain is physiologically distinct from acute pain, but the mechanisms by which pain is transduced, transmitted, decoded, and modulated are shared. Effective treatment regimens for postoperative neuropathic pain employ a deliberate strategy to disrupt the aberrant nociceptive signal. Some surgeries are high risk for chronic postoperative pain with postherniorrhaphy pain syndrome and persistent pain following breast cancer surgery existing as well described entities in the literature.