Analgesia vs. Anesthesia

The text provides a comprehensive overview of the evolution of analgesia and anesthesia in the context of cardiac surgery, spanning from historical approaches to modern techniques and future perspectives. Different phases are analyzed, including the early phase characterized by opioid-based anesthesia, the transition phase towards multimodal analgesia, the modern era of opioid-sparing approaches, and future perspectives such as ultrafast-track strategies. Finally, the age-old dilemma of which is the best anesthesia technique in cardiac surgery is addressed.