• Vanja Tolj, Temitayo Adegbenro, and Ethan Y Brovman.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Tufts Medical Center, 800 Washington St, Boston, MA, 02111, US.
• Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2024 Aug 14.

Purpose Of ReviewPain management following cardiac surgery is a critical component in optimizing both short- and long-term patient outcomes, with poor pain management associated with significant acute and chronic opioid use, opioid dependence and a significant rate of opioid related adverse drug events. The significant burden of both acute and chronic pain following cardiac surgery has given rise to the need for multimodel analgesic strategies, to optimize outcomes and minimize side effects.Recent FindingsWhile significant research has focused recently on the additive value of peripheral nerve blocks, less emphasis has been given to the value of non-opioid based analgesics in preference to traditional opioid based anesthetic and analgesic strategies. In this review, we examine the evidence for several common analgesics, highlighting the evidence supporting efficacy following cardiac surgery, as well as the safety concerns with each agent. We demonstrate the value of a multimodal analgesic strategy to reduce pain scores and improve patient-centered outcomes, and highlight the need for further studies of combination analgesic strategies.© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

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