Abstract
Hypotension frequently occurse in aged patients during epidural block because of sympathetic block and cardiac depression by relatively high volumes of local anesthetic solutions.
We compared the changes in heart rate and systolic blood pressure between aged patients who underwent thoratic epidural block with 2% (0.1ml/kg), 4% (0.05 ml/kg) and 6% (0.05ml/kg) of lidocaine. Decrease in systolic blood pressure was significant in the 2% group during every 5 minutes until 60 minutes, while it was stable in the 6% group.
The pharmacokinetic study of 6% lidocaine (0.1ml/kg) was done in 63 surgical patients who underwent cervical, thoratic and lumbar epidural anesthesia.
The highest Cmax (7.6±1.3/ml) was seen in cervical epidural anesthesia, while the shortest Tmax (8.8±2.0min) and the largest Ka was recognized in lumbar epidural anesthesia. We concluded that a small volume of 6% lidocaine is safe and useful in epidural anesthesia for aged patients.
