[Effects of postoperative continuous epidural analgesia after laparoscopy-assisted colectomy].
BACKGROUND
This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of continuous epidural analgesia on the postoperative pain and the early recovery after laparoscopy-assisted colectomy (LAC).


METHODS
A total of 50 patients undergoing elective LAC were investigated for postoperative pain score and other variables retrospectively.


RESULTS
Thirty patients who had received epidural analgesia (E group) showed significantly lower pain scores for 2 and 24 hours after surgery, compared with twenty patients who had received analgesics intramuscularly or transrectally (C group). The patients in the E group needed significantly less supplemental analgesics than those in C group for 12 to 24 hours after the operation. The incidence of postoperative complications and the early recovery were not significantly different between the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
These results show that postoperative continuous epidural analgesia is effective for postoperative pain relief in patients after laparoscopy-assisted colectomy.
Ono
Koichi
K
Department of Anesthesia, Nagano Municipal Hospital, Nagano 381-8551.
Shibata
Junpei
J
Tanaka
Satoshi
S
Kurato
Tatsuhiko
T
Hishinuma
Norimasa
N
Matsuo
Kumiko
K
Hayafuji
Masaki
M
Kitoh
Takeshi
T
D000368:Aged; D015360:Analgesia, Epidural; D000700:Analgesics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003082:Colectomy; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*
D000700:Analgesics