BACKGROUND Epidural anaesthesia is one of the most commonly used locoregional techniques in ruminants. The lumbosacral epidural technique is reasonably easy to perform and requires low volumes of local anaesthetic drug to allow procedures caudal to the umbilicus. However, surgical procedures in the flank of the animal would require an increased volume of drugs. The anaesthetized area provided b...

lumen endotracheal tube or bronchial blocker with general anesthesia is the first anesthetic choice in thoracic surgery. However, general anesthesia with mechanical ventilation carries a risk of side-effects related to tracheal intubation and general anesthesia, such as airway complications, ventilation-induced lung injury, and residual neuromuscular blockade [1-3]. Thanks to advances in minima...

Surgical pneumothorax allows obtaining comfortable surgical space for minimally invasive thoracic surgery, under spontaneous ventilation and thoracic epidural anesthesia, without need to provide general anesthesia and neuromuscular blockade. One lung ventilation (OLV) by iatrogenic lung collapse, associated with spontaneous breathing and lateral position required for the surgery, involves patho...

BACKGROUND Thoracic trauma accounts for 10%-15% of all trauma admissions. Rib fractures are the most common injury following blunt thoracic trauma. Epidural analgesia improves patient outcomes but is not without problems. The use of continuous intercostal nerve blockade (CINB) may offer superior pain control with fewer side effects. This study's objective was to compare the rate of pulmonary co...

BACKGROUND The most common side effect of epidural or spinal anesthesia is hypotension with functional hypovolemia prompting fluid infusions or administration of vasopressors. Short-term studies (20 min) in patients undergoing lumbar epidural anesthesia suggest that plasma volume may increase when hypotension is present, which may have implications for the choice of treatment of hypotension. Ho...

Relapsing polychondritis is a rare disease characterized by progressive inflammation and destruction of cartilaginous structures such as ears, nose, and tracheolaryngeal structures. As a result, tracheolaryngeal involvement makes anesthetic management a challenge. Anesthetic management of a patient with relapsing polychondritis may encounter airway problems caused by severe tracheal stenosis. W...

P AIN continues to be a significant problem for many patients after major surgery. In addition to improving patient satisfaction and decreasing pain scores, enhanced perioperative pain control can improve clinical outcomes. Thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA) remains a critical tool for anesthesiologists to use in acute pain management. TEA is particularly effective for reducing pain after thorac...

The report in this issue by Wood et aL I chronicles the development of a paediatric epidural analgesia programme at Alberta Children's Hospital. In these authors' experience, epidural analgesia was associated with good analgesia and safety, though with a considerable incidence of side effects and technical difficulties. Readers should not be put off by the quoted incidence of "complications"; m...