TY  - JOUR
T1  - Long-term analgesic use: Sometimes less is not more
AU  - Krishnamoorthy V, Bhalla P
Y1  - 2012/08/13
N1  - 10.1001/archinternmed.2012.2085
JO  - Archives of Internal Medicine
SP  - 1189
EP  - 1190
VL  - 172
IS  - 15
N2  - 
We wonder if these conclusions can be wholly justified based on the figures presented and whether the problem of chronic postsurgical pain may be more significant than the authors suggest. It has been shown that the incidence of moderate to severe pain 24 hours after cataract surgery may be as high as 6.8%, and after laparoscopic cholecystectomy, 57.1%.2 This is certainly not low-pain surgery. The authors' figures show that most patients undergoing cataract surgery do not need further analgesia, but there is a group of patients who need pain relief in the subsequent week. It has been shown that pain at 24 hours may be much worse than immediately after the procedure.3 Rather than overprescribing analgesia in the first week, are we underestimating the pain of cataract surgery and putting patients at risk of chronic postsurgical pain at 1 year?

SN  - 0003-9926
M3  - doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2012.2085
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2012.2085
ER  -