The Prevention of Hypotension After Epidural Analgesia After Major Surgery
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2018-09-14
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Epidural analgesia via continuous epidurally infused local anesthetic agent (LA) is widely
and very successfully used routinely for perioperative pain control in patients undergoing
major orthopedic and abdominal surgery since 1928. The choice currently depends on the
preference of the APS physician in charge of the case. A frequent unwanted side effect of
epidural block is hypotension due to the epidurally injected LA blocking the sympathetic
nerves and thus the patient's response to hypotension, which is usually due to hypovolemia
and/or an unopposed parasympathetic (via the vagus nerve) nervous system. The purpose of this
research study is to see if adding epinephrine, to the epidural anesthetic will decrease
possible side effects, such as low blood pressure, and lead to a better effect of the
epidural anesthetic.