Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are widely used for perioperative analgesia as a sole analgesic after minor surgical procedures and in combination with other types of analgesics after major surgery. The development and use of new selective cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors hopefully reduce the likelihood of perioperative adverse effects that may prevent the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory analgesics in many patients. It remains to be determined, however, whether they can offer effective analgesia with minimal risks of side-effects in everyday clinical use.