[High epidural anesthesia for asthmatic patients--case reports and philological Investigation].
The author experienced anesthetic management of three chronic asthmatic patients for emergency or scheduled lower intraperitoneal operations. The patients were operated under high epidural anesthesia with upper level of T2, in the same way as non-asthmatic patients scheduled for the same lower abdominal operations. There were no worsening of the symptoms nor the signs of asthma, and vital signs were stable during and after the operations. There has not been any report that proved that epidural anesthesia worsens the pathology of asthma. Conversely, there were many asthmatic patients reported who had been relieved of attacks or whose symptoms and signs had not been changed by thoracic sympathetic blockade including epidural anesthesia. At the present time, neurohumoral innervation of the lungs remains to be elucidated, and it would be overhasty to conclude that epidural anesthesia is contraindicated in asthmatic patients.
Enguchi
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Department of Anesthesia, Tagawa City Hospital.
D000368:Aged; D000767:Anesthesia, Epidural / Q000379:methods*; D001249:Asthma; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D000075202:Contraindications; D004630:Emergencies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery