According to a study presented at the Annual Meeting of Anesthesiology in 2017, patients significantly overestimate the anticipated amount of pain they experience after a surgery and that creates unnecessary anxiety in them. Patients receiving regional anesthesia were most likely to overestimate their postoperative pain. The study involved a total of 223 patients (average age = 61 years) who underwent orthopedic, neurosurgical or general surgery procedures.
Out of these, 127 patients received general anesthesia and remaining 96 received some type of regional anesthesia (either epidural, spinal or peripheral nerve block). Of these 96, 16 had received general anesthesia with a peripheral nerve block before or after the surgery. They were asked to complete a questionnaire asking their expected level of pain on 0-10 scale before the surgery, post one hour of the surgery and post one day of…
