Analgesic techniques following thoracic surgery: a survey of United Kingdom practice

Abstract

The authors present a national survey determining the current practice of postoperative analgesia after major thoracic surgery in the United Kingdom. Two hundred and forty anaesthetists from 36 thoracic centres were surveyed and the response rate was 78%. The commonest analgesic technique after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery is paravertebral block combined with patient-controlled analgesia with morphine. In open thoracotomy procedures, although epidural analgesia was used by a majority of the respondents, paravertebral block combined with patient-controlled analgesia with morphine is gaining popularity as an alternate technique for postoperative analgesia. The present survey demonstrates the increasing use of paravertebral block as an alternate regional anaesthetic technique to epidural analgesia after major thoracic surgery in the United Kingdom.