Clinical Approach to Chronic Pain due to Perioperative Nerve Injury

Abdullah Sulieman Terkawi; Omar Khalid Altirkawi; Vafi Salmasi; Einar Ottestad

doi:10.1016/j.anclin.2023.03.009

Clinical Approach to Chronic Pain due to Perioperative Nerve Injury

Anesthesiol Clin. 2023 Jun;41(2):489-502. doi: 10.1016/j.anclin.2023.03.009. Epub 2023 Apr 14.

Authors

Abdullah Sulieman Terkawi¹, Omar Khalid Altirkawi², Vafi Salmasi², Einar Ottestad²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA. Electronic address: aterkawi@stanford.edu.
² Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA.

PMID: 37245952
DOI: 10.1016/j.anclin.2023.03.009

Abstract

Perioperative nerve injuries are common and may be prevented. The estimated incidence of perioperative nerve injury is 10% to 50%. However, most of these injuries are minor and self-recovering. Severe injuries account for up to 10%. Potential mechanisms of injury are nerve stretch, compression, hypoperfusion, direct nerve trauma, or injury during vessel cannulation. Nerve injury pain usually presents as neuropathic pain ranging from mild to severe mononeuropathy and extends to the disabling complex regional pain syndrome. This review provides a clinical approach to subacute and chronic pain secondary to perioperative nerve injury, presentation, and management.

Keywords: Acute; Chronic; Nerve injury; Nerve management; Pain; Postsurgical.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Chronic Pain* / etiology
Chronic Pain* / therapy
Humans
Neuralgia* / complications
Neuralgia* / therapy