Journal of clinical anesthesia
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To evaluate the consequences of opioid use for postoperative pain management and the degree to which these consequences may be reduced or minimized with opioid-sparing or opioid-replacement techniques. ⋯ Opioids will likely remain an integral part of postoperative pain management, but side effects increase the costs of care. The challenge is to identify situations where opioid-sparing techniques improve surrogate economic measurements and decrease overall hospital costs.