Acute Pain Management Protocol for Urological Procedures: Kidney, Bladder, Prostate

With contemporary advances in urologic surgeries, surgical approaches have moved away from open incisions to minimally invasive or robotically guided techniques. Post-operative pain is mainly attributed to the size of the incision, location of port sites, pelvic organ nociception, discomfort due to urinary catheter or diaphragmatic irritation from residual pneumoperitoneum. Multimodal analgesia that centers around use of nerve blocks for renal surgeries has yielded beneficial peri-operative outcomes such as improved functional recovery, reduced incidence of post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV), all mitigation of adverse effects of opioids. These benefits culminate in shorter hospital lengths of stay, reduced healthcare costs, and increased patient satisfaction.