The society of postoperative pain service (POPS) was established to standardize postoperative pain service in order to improve the quality of life and safety of patients after surgery. We performed a nationwide survey in October 2009 on postoperative pain control. This survey revealed the average strategy used in Japan for postoperative pain control after abdominal surgery. The results showed that patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) and intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV-PCA) are widely used in Japan for postoperative pain control after abdominal surgery. In most cases where PCEA is performed, a disposable PCEA infusor (settings:continuous infusion, 4 ml/h;PCA, 3 ml;filling time, 30-60 min) is used together with 300 ml of 0.2% ropivacaine and 300 ml of fentanyl (3 µg/ml). For most of the patients in whom IV-PCA is performed, a disposable IV-PCA infusor (settings:continuous infusion, 1 ml/h;PCA, 1 ml;filling time, 10 min) is used together with fentanyl (25 µg/ml) .