title: Thoracic epidural anesthesia for coronary bypass via left anterior thoracotomy in the conscious patient.
abstract: Cardiac surgery is perceived to be maximally invasive and fraught with complications. Secondary to this, cardiothoracic surgeons have been refining traditional techniques to minimize their invasive nature. Epidural anesthesia has been utilized safely and effectively for numerous surgical procedures to reduce the associated morbidity. In hopes of achieving a similar result, we utilized thoracic epidural anesthesia for a coronary artery bypass via a left anterior thoracotomy, in an awake, spontaneously breathing patient. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case utilizing this approach. Herein we report the results and technique utilized.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami Veterans Affairs Hospital, Miami, Florida, USA. andersm2@umdnj.eud
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: K F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Kwong
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Furst
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Salerno
mesh_terms: D000767:Anesthesia, Epidural / Q000379:methods*; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures; D013908:Thoracotomy