For the treatment of postoperative pain, numerous techniques that have
been adequately tested and found to be effective and safe are availab
le. To ensure that they can be utilized for all patients, suitable org
anisational forms have to be put in place in the hospital. The present
article represents a summary of three papers dealing with the pharmac
ological background of systemic pharmacotherapy (antipyretic/anti-infl
ammatory analgesics, opioids) and postoperative local and conduction a
nalgesia, strategies for establishing the proper dose, and dose mainte
nance, as well as, finally, a discussion of problems associated with t
he practical implementation of the techniques.