Abstract
Epidural anesthesia is the golden standard technique for postoperative pain control in thoracotomy patients. However, perioperative use of anticoagulant drugs increases the risk of bleeding complications, which limit the application of epidural anesthesia. Thoracic paravertebral block, extrapleural block and intercostal nerve block, which block unilateral intercostal nerves, can also be used in thoracic surgery patients. On the other hand, although opioids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are widely applied in patients with coagulopathy, the side effects of opioids often create problems. Multimodal analgesia using these techniques would be useful as an alternative to epidural anesthesia after thoracic surgery.
