5 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 8
Can We Eliminate Post-Op Pain?
Tailoring analgesic efforts to individual patients and
adopting new techniques hold promise for a less painful future.
Brielle Gregory | Associate Editor
• PROACTIVE PROPONENT Ed Mariano, MD, MAS, believes exploring the genetic causes of pain will lead to the development of
more proactive and effective approaches to post-op analgesia.
Ed
Mariano,
MD,
MAS
P
ost-surgical pain will never go away, but new target-
ed analgesic approaches will transform how you'll
treat it in the coming years — and could go a long
way toward reducing its severity. From targeting
specific pain receptors with ultrasound-guided nerve
blocks to freezing nerves with cryoanalgesia, a more tailored
approach to post-op pain management is on the horizon.
"Pain is moving more and more toward precision," says Ed
Mariano, MD, MAS, chief of anesthesiology and perioperative care at
the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto (Calif.) Health Care System. "When
