Multimodal analgesia for postoperative pain relief

MULTIMODAL or balanced analgesia is a technique that is suitable for both large and small animals experiencing pain that may be difficult to control with a single analgesic agent. The effect is easily achievable using a combination of licensed (in some cases) and unlicensed (in some cases) analgesic products, and may only require a small modification of the analgesia regimen already used within veterinary practice. This article defines multimodal analgesia and describes some of the combinations that can be employed in practice.