BACKGROUND The effect of thoracic epidural block on splanchnic blood flow is unclear. It remains to be resolved if sympathetic block, increases or decreases regional splanchnic blood flow and whether regional splanchnic flow becomes dependent on cardiac output or perfusion pressure. A clear understanding of the regional haemodynamic consequences of an epidural block may modify practice with res...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Clinical effects and the potential synergism between clonidine, an alpha2-adrenergic agonist, and ropivacaine have not been studied in patients undergoing epidural anesthesia. This research aimed at clinically evaluating clonidine associated to ropivacaine for epidural anesthesia. METHODS Participated in this double-blind study 60 patients of both genders who were di...

Caudal epidural block is a commonly used technique for surgical anesthesia in children and chronic pain management in adults. It is performed by inserting a needle through the sacral hiatus to gain entrance into the sacral epidural space. Using conventional blind technique, the failure rate of caudal epidural block in adults is high even in experienced hands. This high failure rate could be att...

To compare the outcomes of thoracic epidural block with thoracic paravertebral block for thoracotomy in pediatric patients. A prospective double-blind study. 60 pediatric patients aged 1-24 months, ASA II, III scheduled for thoracotomy were randomly allocated into two groups. After induction of general anesthesia, thoracic epidural catheter was inserted in group E (epidural) patients and thorac...

Adverse fetal heart rate (FHR) changes suggestive of fetal hypoxia are seen in patients with normal term pregnancies after initiation of epidural block for labour analgesia. It was our hypothesis that, in some parturients, these changes were a consequence of concealed aortocaval compression resulting in decreased uterine blood flow. We expected that the full lateral position compared with the w...

BACKGROUND Neuraxial anaesthesia produces a sedative and anaesthetic-sparing effect. Recent evidence suggests that spinal cord anaesthesia modifies reticulo-thalamo-cortical arousal by decreasing afferent sensory transmission. We hypothesized that epidural anaesthesia produces sensory deafferentation-dependent sedation that is associated with impairment of brainstem transmission. We used brains...

mean total dose of 0.5 per cent bupivacaine injected epiduraUy was 8.1 +0.26 ml (range 5-10 ml). The subarachnoid block usually extended from $5 to T7 dermatomes. The usual upper level of the CSE block after injection of local anaesthetic via the epidural catheter was T4. In six patients (25 per cent) the subarachnoid block reached the T4-5 level and further extension of block by epidural injec...

Providing safe and effective analgesia to laboring parturients presents a challenge to anesthesia providers in small hospitals. The necessary time commitment and additional staff needed to provide coverage for the obstetrical area can strain resources. Offering the spinal opioid block as the first choice for labor analgesia and the combined spinal epidural block in selected cases permits a labo...

OBJECTIVE We aimed to compare lateral and midline epidural anaesthesia using a levobupivacaine-fentanyl combination in patients undergoing unilateral lower extremity operation for anaesthetic effects and postoperative complications. METHODS The study included 40 American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) I-II group patients. At the L4-5 space, an epidural catheter was placed in patients in G...