Journal of Pain & Relief
Open Access

Abstract

Caesarean section (CS) commonly induces moderate to severe pain for 48 hrs. The aims of postoperative pain treatment are to provide subjective comfort, inhibit nociceptive impulses and blunt the neuro-endocrine response to pain thus enhancing the restoration of function. Opioids are used both by systemic and neuraxial route for postoperative analgesia. Patient controlled intravenous analgesia (IV-PCA) has shown to be superior to conventional IM opioids for women having had a caesarean Pain, pruritus, nausea/vomiting, sedation and respiratory depression are concerning issues that complicate postoperative opioid usage. These limitations have led to the introduction of multimodal analgesia in the form of co-analgesic/ adjuvant drugs and nerve block and wound infilteration. The NICE guidelines for cesarean sections suggest that wound infiltration and/or ilioinguinal nerve block are viable alternatives to systemic analgesia. TAP block can be a better option for patients not receiving long acting neuraxial opioids. Women having CS presents a unique set of problems to the anesthetist and requires optimal pain management. We need to explore the possibility to establish standard pain relief methods, the choice should be determined by drug availability, resource limitations and financial consideration.

Biography

Samina Ismail holds the position of a Professor at the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Aga Khan University, Karachi. Her main research interests are obstetric anesthesia, regional anesthesia and pain management. She has contributed number of scientific publication and book chapters. She is a reviewer of number of national and international journal and had served as the editor of the journal ‘Anesthesia, pain and Intensive care”. She is the Director of anesthesia obstetric services at her University. She has started obstetric anesthesia fellowship program at Aga Khan University and is the director of the fellowship program. She is also director of Anesthesia research cell at her university and heading the research activity in her department.

Email: samina.ismail@aku.edu