Pain management is one of the most important aspects of veterinary surgery. At our clinic, we use continuous rate infusion (CRI) as the standard method for all painful surgeries — from soft tissue to orthopedic procedures. CRI means that pain medications are delivered as a steady intravenous stream throughout surgery, rather than as single bolus doses.
Why Continuous Infusion?
When painkillers are given as single doses, the patient experiences peaks and troughs in blood drug levels — sometimes the drug is effective, sometimes the pain returns. A continuous infusion smooths out these fluctuations and provides steady, uninterrupted pain relief. This keeps the patient stable throughout surgery and makes recovery faster and less painful.
The Multimodal Approach
A single painkiller affects only one pain mechanism. By combining several different drugs at low doses, more effective pain relief is achieved than with any single drug alone — while keeping the side effects of each drug to a minimum. Studies show that multimodal CRI pain management significantly reduces the need for inhalation anesthetic, which improves circulatory stability and reduces anesthesia-related risks.
Use at Our Clinic
CRI pain infusion is our standard method for all painful surgical procedures: spays, neuters, tumor surgeries, abdominal surgeries, and orthopedic procedures. The infusion is started before surgery and continued postoperatively when needed for optimal pain relief.
What Is Pain "Wind-Up"?
Wind-up is a phenomenon where prolonged pain sensitizes the central nervous system's pain pathways so that the pain experience intensifies progressively. If intraoperative pain relief is inadequate, post-surgical pain can become difficult to control and may require significantly higher drug doses. Continuous infusion effectively prevents this sensitization, which is one of the method's most significant advantages.
Safety
Because CRI uses multiple drugs at low doses, the risk of side effects is lower than with a single drug at a high dose. At our clinic, we closely monitor every patient throughout anesthesia and adjust the infusion rate in real time based on the patient's response.