Individualised anaesthesia and analgesia in surgery: conceptual framework for improving postoperative pain

Br J Anaesth. 2026 May 8:S0007-0912(26)00275-8. doi: 10.1016/j.bja.2026.04.039. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Surgery is often viewed as a lifesaving intervention, yet recovery depends just as much on what follows. The concept of individualised anaesthesia and analgesia in surgery challenges the traditional one-size-fits-all model by tailoring care to each patient's physiological and psychological profile, with the potential to improve outcomes, reduce complications, and enhance the patient experience. Making individualised anaesthesia and analgesia in surgery a clinical reality will require robust, multifaceted trials, as its implementation is both a clinical and ethical imperative. Such research must examine predictive risk, drug-based treatments, psychobiological influences on perioperative experience, real-time nociception monitoring, and alignment between patient and clinician values, and it should span the complete perioperative period.

PMID:42106243 | DOI:10.1016/j.bja.2026.04.039