Thoracic Epidural- An Alternate to General Anaesthesia for Sick Laparotomy.

Choices of anaesthetic technique in patients with perforation peritonitis requiring emergency laparotomy vary drastically on the basis of anaesthetist preference and patient’s condition. We report a case of a geriatric male, with restricted mouth opening due to ludwig’s angina and renal derangement, posted for emergency laparotomy for gastric perforation. Thoracic epidural block was used as a sole anaesthetic technique because of above mentioned airway difficulty, instruments limitation in emergency setup and associated co- morbidity. Surgery was conducted successfully.