Korean J Pain.  2006 Dec;19(2):271-274. 10.3344/kjp.2006.19.2.271.

High Thoracic Epidural Analgesia for the Control of Pain in Unstable Angina Pectoris: A case report

• Lee BJ

• KMID: 2073945
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3344/kjp.2006.19.2.271

Abstract

Unstable angina is a critical phase of coronary heart disease, with widely variable symptoms and prognoses. Recently, despite the advances in surgical revascularization, catheter-based revascularization and medical treatment, an increasing number of patients with angina pectoris are refractory to medical therapy and; therefore, can not be considered as candidates for coronary artery bypass grafting or interventional angioplasty. These patients are often treated with narcotics for pain relief, and forced to severely reduce their levels of activity and productivity. It has become clear that alleviating the pain caused by myocardial ischemia may be possible by altering the sympathetic afferent nerve fibers. Sympathetic blockade can be produced using high thoracic epidural analgesia. Herein, the case of a patient with intractable angina and poor ventricular function, who received high thoracic epidural analgesia to relieve ischemic chest pain, is reported.

Keyword

angina pectoris; myocardial infarction; thoracic epidural analgesia

MeSH Terms

Analgesia, Epidural*
Angina Pectoris
Angina, Unstable*
Angioplasty
Chest Pain
Coronary Artery Bypass
Coronary Disease
Efficiency
Humans
Myocardial Infarction
Myocardial Ischemia
Narcotics
Nerve Fibers
Prognosis
Ventricular Function
Narcotics