Benefit-risk of epidural analgesia - post-operative period Epidural analgesia is also widely used during the post-operative period and has been shown to be superior to systemic opioid analgesia for the control of postoperative pain (23). Other beneficial or harmful side effects of TEA during the postoperative period were investigated in a systematic review and meta-analysis including 125 trials, with a total of 9044 patients, analyzing various outcomes (24). In the group receiving TEA vs. systemic opioids the major outcome was a reduced mortality rate (2-3.1% in the epidural group vs. 3.2-4.9% in the control group (OR >0.60)). The main adverse effects of TEA to be mentioned are pruritus, urinary retention, motor blockade and hypotension. Hypotension, a complication observed in approximately 9% of the patients, is mainly due to local anesthetics and can be reduced by combining local anesthetics with opioids (25). Technical failure of TEA was reported in 6.1% of patients but without severe neurologic complications, infections, hematoma or trauma for the totality of patients included. TEA also significantly decreased the odds of various morbidity endpoints: atrial fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia, respiratory depression, atelectasis, pneumonia, ileus, nausea and vomiting (24). …show more content…
A correct analgesia may also allow the patient to be mobilized faster and begin earlier respiratory physiotherapy