EPIDURAL ANESTHESIA FOR ELECTIVE INFRARENAL ABDOMINAL AORTIC SURGENY IN HIGH RISK PATIENT GROUP AND CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE: CASE REPORT

Epidural anesthesia, whether adjuvant to general anesthesia or not, has better analgesia and pain control, decreased patient stress resulting diminished hemodynamic needs of the heart and myocardial oxygene consumption, advantages like eliminating the potantial complications of general anestesia as prolonged ventilation, myocardial depression, prolonged ileus. We retrospectively revealed the high risk patients who were treated surgically for infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm via epidural anesthesia and a literature review for the conventional usage of this technique.

In conclusion, epidural anesthesia maintains better patient comfort, lessened morbidity and fastened patient circulation. Epidural anesthesia requires experienced and cooperative intersection of anesthesia and surgical teams, carries more stress over surgical team as the patient is awake and some sort of potential complications as enfection or hematoma. Therefore only in high risk patient groups this tecnique is feasible and must be in surgeons armomentorium. (Turkish J Vasc Surg 2003;12(3): 27-31)