title: Awake cardiac surgery using a novel anesthetic technique.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We describe the first published cases of awake cardiac surgery in Canada. In addition, a novel anesthetic technique consisting of combined femoral block/high epidural thoracic anesthesia is presented.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two patients, both 65 yr of age and with good left ventricular function, were scheduled to undergo off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) for two grafts each. Anesthesia consisted of combined femoral 3:1 block and high thoracic epidural anesthesia. Both surgeries proceeded without hemodynamic or respiratory complications; in both cases, opening of the pleural spaces was treated with insertion of thoracic drainage tubes. Both patients were transferred to the postanesthesia care unit immediately after surgery and six hours later to the cardiac surgical ward. Both patients were discharged from the hospital within five days of surgery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that awake OPCAB is feasible using a combined femoral block/high thoracic epidural anesthesia technique which allows cardiac surgery and harvesting of the saphenous vein. Further clinical experience is required to define the technical limitations of this technique before randomized studies should be undertaken to better define the role of awake procedures in the future of cardiac surgery.
authors.affiliation: PeriCARG (Perioperative Cardiac Research Group), Department of Anesthesiology, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Hôtel-Dieu, Québec H2W 1T8, Canada. thomashemmerling@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Thomas M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Hemmerling
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Noiseux
authors.forename: Fadi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Basile
authors.forename: Marie-Frédérique
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Noël
authors.forename: Ignatio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Prieto
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000767:Anesthesia, Epidural; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D047549:Coronary Artery Bypass, Off-Pump; D004452:Echocardiography; D005267:Femoral Nerve; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008323:Mammary Arteries / Q000637:transplantation; D016343:Monitoring, Intraoperative; D009407:Nerve Block; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012501:Saphenous Vein / Q000637:transplantation; D015607:Stents; D013318:Stroke Volume / Q000502:physiology