Associate Professor Department of Psychiatry - Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Chronic pain remains a significant healthcare problem affecting approximately 30% of Americans and only continues to rise with an aging population. One of the most common and preventable forms of chronic pain is chronic postsurgical pain. Chronic postsurgical pain results in diminished function, lower overall quality of life, often long-term opioid therapy, and considerable economic burden, with recent data estimating approximately $30,000 per year in adjusted indirect costs to the patient. Certain surgeries put patients at higher risk for developing chronic postsurgical pain, such as thoracotomy, mastectomy, abdominal and orthopedic surgeries, and total joint arthroplasties. This presentation will discuss the current literature on the identified risk factors for the development of chronic postsurgical pain and novel mitigation strategies.
