- Adequate postoperative pain
management is ever present in the patient's mind.
- Some surgical pain can be adequately
treated with the conventional mode of patient
controlled intravenous narcotics (PCA) or oral
narcotic administration.
- More intense pain such as the
pain from a thoracotomy incision can be
effectively treated with epidural
narcotics alone or in combination with
dilute local anesthetics.
- As in all medical procedures, the
risk: benefit ratio must be considered
- In this patient, with
moderately abnormal pulmonary function
tests and a high degree of anxiety
regarding postoperative pain, the
epidural anesthesia seemed appropriate
mode of therapy.
- However, even in the best
case scenario, the thoracic epidural
analgesia is more labor-intensive than
intravenous analgesia. In this case, the
epidural analgesia became significantly
more labor-intensive.
- This case is an excellent
demonstration of the fact that before one
performs a procedure, one must be prepared to
treat been known side effects
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