Hoffmann, R. A wiki for the life sciences where authorship matters. Nature Genetics (2008)

Editor

Personal info

View

About

Terms

Javascript disabled

Please enable Javascript support in your browser to use this application.

Instructions on how to enable JavaScript on different browsers can be found here: http://www.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=23852.

[edit this page]

Liu, S. et al.

Effects of epidural bupivacaine after thoracotomy.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES. Combinations of bupivacaine and fentanyl are popular for postoperative epidural analgesia. However, there are little data from which to select a rational dose of bupivacaine. The study examined the effects of increasing amounts of epidural bupivacaine on postoperative analgesia, epidural fentanyl consumption, and side effects after thoracotomy. METHODS. Twenty-four patients were randomized in a double-blind manner to receive intra- and postoperative epidural infusions of either saline, 0.01% bupivacaine, 0.05% bupivacaine, or 0.1% bupivacaine at 10 mL/h. All patients received a standardized combined epidural (120 mg lidocaine and 1.5 micrograms/kg of fentanyl) and general anesthesia. Further postoperative analgesia was provided with fentanyl patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) only. RESULTS. There were no differences between groups in visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores at rest or cough, but 10 and 5 mg/h of bupivacaine provided better analgesia during physiotherapy (P < .05). The use of 10 and 5 mg/h of bupivacaine led to significant opioid sparing (50% decrease) when compared to saline and 1 mg/h bupivacaine (P < .03). There was a trend toward a greater incidence of orthostasis with the use of bupivacaine at 10 mg/h (P = .09). Incidences of opioid side effects were not different between groups. CONCLUSIONS. The results demonstrate improved analgesia with physiotherapy and significant opioid sparing when 10 and 5 mg/h doses of bupivacaine are used. However, the incidence of orthostasis may be increased with the use of 10 mg/h. Thus, 5 mg/h of epidural bupivacaine (.05% at 10 mL/h) improved analgesia, decreased opioid requirements, and did not have detectable hemodynamic effects.[1]

References

Effects of epidural bupivacaine after thoracotomy. Liu, S., Angel, J.M., Owens, B.D., Carpenter, R.L., Isabel, L. Regional anesthesia. (1995) [Pubmed]

Annotations and hyperlinks in this abstract are from individual authors of WikiGenes or automatically generated by the WikiGenes Data Mining Engine. The abstract is from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.About WikiGenes Open Access Licence Privacy Policy Terms of Use apsburg

The world's first wiki where authorship really matters (Nature Genetics, 2008). Due credit and reputation for authors. Imagine a global collaborative knowledge base for original thoughts. Search thousands of articles and collaborate with scientists around the globe.