Dolor crónico posoperatorio: Una revisión necesaria de un problema ignorado

Introduction: Postoperative chronic pain (PCP) is defined as a discomfort that lasts more than expected or beyond 3 months after surgery. The recognition and study of this clinical entity has been gaining interest in the past few years. One of the main reasons is the great impact it can have on the quality of life of patients who suffer from it. Objective: To describe the prevalence, risk factor and impact of PCP on patients subjected to different surgical procedures. Materials and Methods: Search on MEDLINE/Pubmed, using the following terms: “chronic postsurgical pain”, “chronic post operative pain”, “chronic post operative pain”, “chronic post surgical pain”. Publications were then sieved using their title and abstract. Results: Fifty-seven articles were analyzed. Ten to fifty percent of patients were reported as suffering PCP, with up to 10% incidence of severe pain. The main risk factors identified were the use of analgesics, pre-operative pain and type of surgery. Orthopedic surgery was highly associated with moderate to severe PCP within the first year. Twenty-one percent of patients referred PCP affected their quality of life and sleep; ability to carry out physical activity and return to work. Conclusion: The first approach to PCP is getting to know its impact and epidemiology. Surgical treatments can cause PCP, which will affect patient recovery and increase costs. Recognizing those patients at risk and establishing preventive management protocols could improve the quality of life of postsurgical patients.