Thoracic Epidural Anesthesia for Upper Abdominal Surgery / 대한마취과학회지

ABSTRACT

Patients with advanced pulmonary tuberculosis suffer from chronic obstrutive pulmonary disease, making them poor risks for anesthesia. Also, general anesthesia for patients with active hepatitis or arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease complicates the intraoperative and postoperative course. Inhalation anesthetics, along with the assissted ventilation used in general anesthesia, further complicate the intraoperative and postoperative course. Although regional anesthetic techiques have been used extensively for pelvic and limbic surgery to avoid the complications of general anesthesia, thoracic epidural anesthesia has not been common for upper abdominal surgery because of the fear of damage to the spinal cord. But compared with the lumbar.approach, the danger of accidental damage to the spinal cord has been exaggerated. Thoracic epidural anesthesia has been employed in a number of cases of upper abdominal surgery at Y.U.W.M.C wish remarkable success. We have in describe the use of thoracic epidural anesthesia for upper abdominal surgery.