Korean J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg.  1997 Aug;30(8):809-814.

The Effect of Epidural Pain Block After Thoracotomy

• Choi DY
• Won KJ
• Sohn DS
• Cho DY
• Yang KM
• Woo YC
• Koo GH

Abstract

Continuous epidural pain block with a local anesthetic agents is a commonly employed technique for pain relief after thoracotomy. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of the continuous epidural pain block in 19 patients undergoing elective lateral or posterolateral thoracotomy with control group(n=19) from November 1994 to July 1995. Epidural lidocaine and morphine mixtures were injected via an epidural catheter as a bolus after operation, and then bupivacaine and morphine mixtures were injected continuously following 5 or 6 days. The pain score, upper arm elevation(ROM score), and respiratory rate were significantly changed(P<0.05) from 30min after injection. The CO2 tension of arterial blood was decreased significantly(P<0.05) from 2hr after injection. The postoperative hospital days were decreased significantly(P<0.05). Side effects of the epidural pain block were urinary retention(n=10), urticaria(n=2) and a case of headache. There was no postoperative lung atelectasis. We conclude that the continuous epidural pain block is good for prevention of the postoperative lung complication and early recovery after thoracotomy.

Keyword

Epidural anesthesia; Thoracotomy

MeSH Terms

Anesthesia, Epidural
Anesthetics
Arm
Bupivacaine
Catheters
Headache
Humans
Lidocaine
Lung
Morphine
Pulmonary Atelectasis
Respiratory Rate
Thoracotomy*
Anesthetics
Bupivacaine
Lidocaine
Morphine