Topical Concurrent Session 3D – Capturing the transition of post-operative acute to chronic pain

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Topical Concurrent Session 3D: Capturing the transition of post-operative acute to chronic pain
Chair: Ms Amal Helou, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, NSW

Stating the obvious, all chronic pain begins as acute pain…. But the when, how and why this happens post-operatively remains unclear. It appears that abnormal changes in the nociceptive process take place, especially in the continuation of sensitization post tissue injury, leading to both peripheral and central sensitization involving changes in the neurons as well as the glial and immune cells leading to neuroplastic changes. A growing body of literature has identified vulnerability factors for the transition of acute pain to chronic pain in the adult population, such as demographics, psychosocial factors, surgery factors, pre-operative pain, pain syndromes, genetic factors, anaesthetic factors and levels of acute post-operative pain. Chronic post-surgical pain can impact individual lives in the same way as other forms of chronic pain such as sleep, mood, work and social life. This presentation will be from two adult hospitals and one paediatric hospital, and will look at how they identify patients at risk of transition of acute to chronic pain in post-operative patients, the models of care, treatments and service provided for identified patients. We will report on a large multisite study which is developing a screening tool based on these vulnerability factors) to identify patients at risk of transitioning from acute to chronic post-surgical pain, as well as ongoing opioid use.

Speakers:
Ms Natasha Haynes, Children’s Hospital at Westmead, NSW
Ms Melanie Proper, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, QLD
Dr Sarah Overton, Royal North Shore Hospital, NSW