Abstract
I discuss here the efficacy of epidural analgesia for postoperative pain management. Epidural analgesia has been reported to be useful for postoperative pain management in patients who have undergone abdominal surgery with medium to high risk. Levobupivacaine, which was recently introduced into clinical practice in Japan, has a long duration of action and a lower affinity for motor nerves than that of bupivacaine. Therefore, I evaluated the efficacy of epidural infusion of levobupivacaine on postoperative pain management in patients who underwent abdominal surgery. Six ml/hr of continuous epidural infusion of 0.25% levobupivacaine showed adequate analgesia without any motor blockage for postoperative pain management in patients who underwent upper abdominal surgery. Epidural infusion of 0.25% levobupivacaine may be useful for postoperative pain management in patients who have undergone upper abdominal surgery.
