title: Regional anaesthesia, local anaesthetics and the surgical stress response.
abstract: Epidural anaesthesia has the potential to improve patients' outcome after major surgical procedures by reducing postoperative morbidity and duration of recovery. Possible benefits include the attenuation of cardiac complications, an earlier return of gastrointestinal function associated with an increase in patients' comfort overall, decreased incidence of pulmonary dysfunction, beneficial effects on the coagulation system and a reduction in the inflammatory response. The underlying mechanisms, however, remain unclear. Since local anaesthetics (LAs), reabsorbed from the epidural space, seem to contribute to these effects, it is not easy to differentiate between the systemic effects of LAs and the effects of neuraxial blockade by epidural anaesthesia. Thus, in patients not able or willing to receive intra- and/or postoperative epidural analgesia, systemic administration of LAs may be considered to be a new therapeutic approach for the prevention of postoperative disorders by modulation of the peri- and postoperative inflammatory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, University Hospital Muenster, 48129 Münster, Germany. hahnenkamp@anit.uni-muenster.de
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hahnenkamp
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Herroeder
authors.forename: Markus W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Hollmann
mesh_terms: D000765:Anesthesia, Conduction / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000767:Anesthesia, Epidural; D000779:Anesthetics, Local / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D000779:Anesthetics, Local