Psychological treatments for the management of postsurgical pain: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials

• Published in: Patient related outcome measures Vol. 9; pp. 49 - 64
• Main Authors: Nicholls, Judith L, Azam, Muhammad A, Burns, Lindsay C, Englesakis, Marina, Sutherland, Ainsley M, Weinrib, Aliza Z, Katz, Joel, Clarke, Hance
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Zealand Dove Medical Press Limited 01.01.2018; Taylor & Francis Ltd; Dove Medical Press
• Subjects: Acute pain; Anxiety; Back pain; Behavior modification; Behavioral medicine; Bibliographic literature; Care and treatment; CBT; Chronic pain; chronic post-surgical pain; Clinical trials; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive-behavioral therapy; Evidence-based medicine; Intervention; Joint surgery; Meta-analysis; multidisciplinary pain management; Pain management; Physical therapy; Post surgical pain; Psychology; Psychotherapy; Public health; Review; Risk factors; Surgery; Systematic review; chronic pain; chronic postsurgical pain; CBT; postsurgical pain; acute pain; multidisciplinary pain management
• ISSN: 1179-271X; 1179-271X
• DOI: 10.2147/prom.s121251

Inadequately managed pain is a risk factor for chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP), a growing public health challenge. Multidisciplinary pain-management programs with psychological approaches, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mindfulness-based psychotherapy, have shown efficacy as treatments for chronic pain, and show promise as timely interventions in the pre/perioperative periods for the management of PSP. We reviewed the literature to identify randomized controlled trials evaluating the efficacy of these psychotherapy approaches on pain-related surgical outcomes. We searched Medline, Medline-In-Process, Embase and Embase Classic, and PsycInfo to identify studies meeting our search criteria. After title and abstract review, selected articles were rated for risk of bias. Six papers based on five trials (four back surgery, one cardiac surgery) met our inclusion criteria. Four papers employed CBT and two CBT-physiotherapy variant; no ACT or mindfulness-based studies were identified. Considerable heterogeneity was observed in the timing and delivery of psychological interventions and length of follow-up (1 week to 2-3 years). Whereas pain-intensity reporting varied widely, pain disability was reported using consistent methods across papers. The majority of papers (four of six) reported reduced pain intensity, and all relevant papers (five of five) found improvements in pain disability. General limitations included lack of large-scale data and difficulties with blinding. This systematic review provides preliminary evidence that CBT-based psychological interventions reduce PSP intensity and disability. Future research should further clarify the efficacy and optimal delivery of CBT and newer psychological approaches to PSP.