Chronic pain after surgery is now a well-recognized phenomenon and there are several review articles dealing with the subject in general. 1, 2, 3, 4 There is also a wealth of publications on pain after individual operations, and this chapter will only briefly review the prevalence and demographic data on the subject, given that this has been covered extensively in these other publications. Chapter 31, Preventing chronic pain after surgery in the Acute Pain volume in this series covers the risk factors and prevention of chronic pain after surgery. On reviewing the literature, it is interesting to note that certain operations are well represented (eg hernia, limb amputation, and breast surgery), but there is less information about others (eg cholecystectomy, gynecological, and orthopedic procedures). Although the fact that many patients suffer chronic pain after surgery is well documented, it has not yet reached all doctors, the general public, or the media. Postsurgical pain is mentioned as a potential complication on some websites dealing with recovery from breast cancer surgery, but is not commonly discussed in surgical textbooks. When obtaining consent prior for surgery, chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) should be discussed, along with other possible adverse events, complications, and side effects of operations. Future studies on outcomes of surgery should include chronic pain as an outcome measure.