Journal of cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia
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J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. · Apr 2003
Thoracic epidural analgesia in coronary artery bypass graft surgery: seven years' experience.
To evaluate the risk of neurologic complications caused by an epidural hematoma in a series of patients who had coronary artery bypass graft surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass under combined general and thoracic epidural anesthesia (TEA). ⋯ In this study, some of the benefits previously reported during cardiac surgery under TEA, such as excellent analgesia and early extubation, were confirmed. In addition, the series adds further evidence that adherence to a set of standard safety measures, in this setting, averts the occurrence of symptomatic epidural hematomas.