Do NSAIDs Really Interfere with Healing after Surgery?

Perioperative analgesia should be multimodal to improve pain relief, reduce opioid use and thereby adverse effects impairing recovery. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are an important non-opioid component of this approach. However, besides potential other adverse effects, there has been a longstanding discussion on the potentially harmful effects of NSAIDs on healing after surgery and trauma. This review describes current knowledge of the effects of NSAIDs on healing of bones, cartilage, soft tissue, wounds, flaps and enteral anastomoses. Overall, animal data suggest some potentially harmful effects, but are contradictory in most areas studied. Human data are limited and of poor quality; in particular, there are only very few good randomized controlled trials (RCTs), but many cohort studies with potential for significant confounding factors influencing the results. The limited human data available are not precluding the use of NSAIDs postoperatively, in particular, short-term for less than 2 weeks. However, well-designed and large RCTs are required to permit definitive answers.