By Beth-ann Kerber Portraits by John Emerson Choices: Expanding Options for Pain Management in the Operating Room and Beyond B ast Brunswick resident Ethel DeBari (left) credits her positive experience with total knee replacement surgery to the pain management that she received during and after the procedure from Geza Kiss, MD ’95 (right) associate professor of anesthesiology and clinical director of acute pain and regional anesthesia. efore undergoing total knee replacement surgery three years ago, East Brunswick resident Ethel DeBari had heard all the horror stories about intense pain and difficult recovery— even from physicians. But, with a loss of cartilage in her right knee that caused bone-on-bone impact and resulting severe pain, DeBari had already tried other solutions, including cortisone shots, all to no avail. Looking for relief from the pain and a return to full activity, she prepared herself for what the surgery might bring. “I put it in my head that if you expect to have surgery and not have pain, you’re crazy. So I thought, ‘OK, you’re going to have pain; hopefully they’ll be able to control it to a degree. I’ll just fight through it, and each day it will get a little better,’” DeBari recalls. She wasn’t prepared, however, for her actual experience. “Without a doubt, it was so much better than I expected. It can’t get any better than what I experienced,” she says. “I had zero pain after my surgery. I breezed through rehab. I did physical therapy without any problems, and I didn’t even rely on taking Percocet or anything like that!” e Robert Wood Johnson I MEDICINE 7