Anesthesiology and pain medicine
-
Effective control of postoperative pain remains one of the most important and pressing issues in the field of surgery and has a significant impact on our health care system. In too many patients, pain is treated inadequately, causing them needless suffering and they can develop complications as an indirect consequence of pain. Analgesic modalities, if properly applied, can prevent or at least minimize this needless suffering and these complications. ⋯ The results of our study indicate that for patients who are scheduled for hip surgery, both continuous paravertebral and continuous epidural analgesia are effective in controlling postoperative pain but that the former has several crucial advantages.