Prise en charge de la douleur postopératoire en chirurgie cardiaque

Cardiac surgery can be done through different surgical and anesthetic techniques. Even if new surgical proceedings are less invasive, perioperative periods are shorter and anesthetic techniques allow a quicker awakening, postoperative pain management remains an issue. A good postoperative pain evaluation, although critical in cardiac surgery patients, can be difficult due to cognitive functions transient impairment. Specific pain scales have been developed to achieve this goal. Opioids and non-opioids agents are used in a multimodal way via multiple routes of administration. Future objectives are: to pursue developing minimally invasive cardiac surgeries and fast track anesthesia keeping in mind to minimise risks of mortality and morbidity associated to cardiac surgery and to optimize relief of postoperative pain while preventing acute to chronic pain transformation.