THURSDAY, March 6, 2025 (HealthDay News) — For patients undergoing elective surgery, intraoperative use of remifentanil and sufentanil is independently associated with a poorer postoperative pain experience, according to a study published online Feb. 25 in Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine.

Axel Maurice-Szamburski, M.D., Ph.D., from the University Hospital Centre Nice Pasteur Hospital in France, and colleagues conducted an exploratory secondary analysis using data from 971 adults undergoing elective surgery under general anesthesia across five hospitals to identify factors associated with poor postoperative pain experience. Patient experience measured by the Evaluation du Vécu de l’Anesthésie Generale questionnaire on postoperative day 1 was the primary end point.

The researchers found that 27.9 percent of patients reported poor pain experience. Intraoperative use of remifentanil and sufentanil was identified as an independent predictor of poor pain experience in a multivariate analysis. Age, absence of premedication, and orthopedic surgery were associated with a significantly lower likelihood of poor pain experience. In contrast, predictors of poor pain experience included American Society of Anesthesiologists 3 status, postoperative anxiolytic use, amnesia, higher visual analog scale pain, and lower well-being scores on day 1.

“These findings underscore the need to reassess intraoperative analgesic strategies to reduce postoperative complications and improve patient care,” the authors write. “Further research is required to confirm these associations and to develop optimized perioperative pain management protocols focused on enhancing patient outcomes.”

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