Perioperative Pain: Molecular Mechanisms and Future Perspectives

Background: Acute perioperative pain is seen in more than 80% of patients undergoing surgery, with almost 75% of them experiencing moderate, severe, or extreme pain; adequate postoperative pain management is not achieved in a satisfactory manner. This styudy was desined ana performed to assess the molecular mechanisms of acute pain management in order to find novel future perspectives. Materials and Methods: In this narrative review, molecular mechanisms of currently available pain controlling agents were assessed based on 3 steps: preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative phases. Drugs used in each phase and potential novel agents were assessed separately. Results: many currently available clinical agents were discussed and meanwhile, other potential drugs that could be among the future choices are discussed. Conclusion: cellular and molecular medicine could open new windows in order to discover novel agents for management of pain; we will have possibly many new agents that will be available in future while they will be different from currently used clinical pain killers.