{"id":3448,"date":"2025-07-16T17:05:33","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T17:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/chronic-post-surgical-pain\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T09:39:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T09:39:12","slug":"chronic-post-surgical-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/en\/chronic-post-surgical-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Post-Surgical Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is it?<\/h2>\n\n<p><strong>Chronic post-surgical pain<\/strong> is pain that <strong>persists for more than 3 months after surgery<\/strong>, even though the external wound has healed and the operation was technically successful.<\/p>\n\n<p>This pain can be <strong>continuous or intermittent<\/strong>, and may have <strong>neuropathic<\/strong> characteristics (burning, tingling, electric shocks) or <strong>nociceptive<\/strong> characteristics (deep, throbbing pain). It is more common after surgery on the <strong>spine, chest, abdomen, groin<\/strong> or <strong>limbs<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How often does it occur?<\/h2>\n\n<p>The percentage varies depending on the type of surgery:<br\/>On average, between 10% and 40% of patients may develop chronic post-surgical pain.<br\/>Some surgeries, such as limb amputation, inguinal hernia repair, spine surgery, thoracotomy, or mastectomy, have a higher risk (sometimes more than 40%).<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Does it Happen?<\/h2>\n\n<p>After an operation, the body may develop an <strong>abnormal pain circuit<\/strong>, for example due to:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Nerve injury or irritation<\/strong> during surgery<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Scars (fibrosis)<\/strong> that compress nerve structures<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Persistent inflammation<\/strong> of deep tissues<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hyperactivation of the nervous system<\/strong> (peripheral or central sensitization)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>In some cases, there is no visible lesion, but the nervous system continues to send pain signals &#8220;as if&#8221; there were still damage.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are the symptoms?<\/h2>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pain in the operated area that <strong>does not improve over time<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Abnormal sensations: <strong>burning, numbness, tingling<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Pain triggered by light touch<\/strong> or temperature changes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Movement limitation<\/strong> or difficulty with daily activities<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sometimes, <strong>sleep or mood disorders<\/strong> associated with persistent pain<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How is it Diagnosed?<\/h2>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Specialized pain assessment with physical examination and detailed medical history<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Analysis of pain type (neuropathic vs nociceptive)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Instrumental examinations (MRI, ultrasound, electromyography) if indicated<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sometimes targeted diagnostic tests: nerve blocks or selective infiltrations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What treatments are available?<\/h2>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Multimodal (Combined) Approach<\/h3>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Specific medications for chronic neuropathic pain<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Physical and rehabilitative therapy<\/strong> to restore function and reduce sensitivity<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Psychological support or cognitive-behavioral therapy<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Minimally invasive interventional therapies<\/strong>, such as:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Local infiltrations<\/strong> with anesthetics or corticosteroids<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Pulsed radiofrequency of peripheral or spinal nerves<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/en\/spinal-cord-neurostimulation\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1703\">Spinal neuromodulation<\/a><\/strong> in resistant cases<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_99469080-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1995\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_99469080-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_99469080-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_99469080-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_99469080-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_99469080-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is the Prognosis?<\/h2>\n\n<p>Many patients, even after months or years of pain, can achieve <strong>significant improvement<\/strong> with targeted specialist treatment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is it? Chronic post-surgical pain is pain that persists for more than 3 months after surgery, even though the external wound has healed and the operation was technically successful. This pain can be continuous or intermittent, and may have neuropathic characteristics (burning, tingling, electric shocks) or nociceptive characteristics (deep, throbbing pain). It is more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sindrome"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_140156034.jpg",2121,1414,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_140156034.jpg",2121,1414,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_140156034.jpg",2121,1414,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_140156034-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_140156034-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"large":["https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_140156034-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_140156034-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_140156034-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/en\/author\/administrator\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/en\/category\/sindrome\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Sindrome<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"What is it? Chronic post-surgical pain is pain that persists for more than 3 months after surgery, even though the external wound has healed and the operation was technically successful. This pain can be continuous or intermittent, and may have neuropathic characteristics (burning, tingling, electric shocks) or nociceptive characteristics (deep, throbbing pain). It is more&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3448"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4649,"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3448\/revisions\/4649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/staging\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}