Conscious off pump coronary artery bypass surgery--an audit of our first 151 cases.

PURPOSE An audit of our first 151 cases of conscious off pump coronary artery bypass (COPCAB) surgery with epidural anesthesia as sole anesthetic. METHODS Patients underwent conscious off pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) surgery using high thoracic epidural anesthesia. The epidural catheter was inserted on the day before the surgery. RESULTS There were 118 male and 33 female patients. The incision was via midsternotomy except in 3 patients. Single graft was performed in 25 patients, double in 61, triple in 46, quadruple in 19. Twenty-nine patients developed pneumothorax. Three patients required conversion to general anesthesia. In one patient cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) was instituted. There was no mortality in the group. CONCLUSION Our experience shows that conscious OPCAB surgery can be performed safely in selected patients.