Update on the role of non-opioids for postoperative pain treatment

Non-opioids play an ever increasing role in the treatment of postoperative pain; either on their own for mild to moderate pain or in combination with other analgesic approaches, in particular opioids, as a component of multimodal analgesia. The analgesics paracetamol (acetaminophen) and dipyrone (metamizole) as well as compounds with an additional anti-inflammatory effect (non-selective non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and selective cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors) are used widely in the perioperative period.

Paracetamol is gaining renewed interest in this setting due to its minimal adverse effects and recent availability in a parenteral preparation, but its benefits are insufficiently studied.

Dipyrone continues to be used in many countries despite the ongoing debate on the incidence and relevance of its ability to cause agranulocytosis.

Among the anti-inflammatory drugs, selective cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors have the most supportive data for their beneficial effects as a component of multimodal analgesia and offer benefits with regard to their adverse effect profile.

Key words: non-opioids, multimodal analgesia, balanced analgesia, paracetamol, dipyrone, NSAID, coxib