ABSTRACT
Opioid analgesics have been used for pain relief for thousands of years (1). In
modern times, they have been mostly employed to treat acute and cancer-related
pain. More recently, their use has expanded to include chronic nonmalignant
pain. The consistent, effective analgesia that this drug class provides has
established opioids as the gold standard to address moderate to severe pain. As
their therapeutic use becomes increasingly common, it is incumbent upon
physicians to appropriately manage the potential detrimental effects of them.
These effects are particularly relevant in the context of surgical intervention.
