Is It Time for Paradigm Shift in Pain Management for Cardiac Surgery Patients?

Multimodal Analgesic Effectiveness on Acute Postoperative Pain Management After Adult Cardiac Surgery

“…Contemporary trends in practice are indicative of strategies to reduce opioid administration, 8 and although the judicious use of opioid analgesics is warranted, it is important to note that low-dose opioid-based anesthesia is not associated with reduced length of stay in low- to moderate-risk CS patients 2 . Furthermore, this approach, although widely adopted, is not substantiated with robust evidence, 9 and opioid-free techniques are not recommended 10 . Notably, findings from nurse-led research indicate over 50% of patients report moderate to severe pain up until postoperative day 4 and a similar proportion of patients do not receive any opioid analgesia 11 .…”