ReviewThe transition of acute postoperative pain to chronic pain: Part 2 - Limiting the transition

SummaryThe transition of acute perioperative pain to pathological chronic post-surgical pain (CPSP) is a complex and poorly understood process. The Anaesthetist plays a pivotal role in the early recognition of patients with chronic pain and in the identification of factors that may lead to suboptimal pain control in the perioperative period. Multimodal pharmacological strategies, psychological strategies, modified surgical techniques, procedure-specific postoperative pain management, and enhanced postoperative recovery programmes are all used to prevent persistent acute postoperative pain. These are discussed. The establishment of a core minimum dataset for future epidemiologic studies is emphasised.