Minerva anestesiologica
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Minerva anestesiologica · Feb 2021
Opioid free anesthesia: evidence for short and long-term outcome.
The introduction of synthetic opioids in clinical practice played a major role in the history of anesthesiology. For years, anesthesiologists have been thinking that opioids are needed for intraoperative anesthesia. However, we now know that opioids (especially synthetic short-acting molecules) are definitely not ideal analgesics and may even be counterproductive, increasing postoperative pain. ⋯ OFA may also increase patient-reported outcomes; despite it is difficult to specifically rule out the effect of intraoperative opioids. Finally, few data are available on long-term outcomes (persistent pain and opioid abuse, cancer outcome). New studies and data are required to elaborate the optimal approach for each patient/surgery, but interest and publication are increasing and may open the road to the wider adoption of OFA.