Thoracic but not lumbar epidural anaesthesia increases liver blood flow after major abdominal surgery.

Background And Objective: Epidural blockade in major abdominal surgery bears the potential to increase gastrointestinal perfusion and thus to improve patient outcome. The aim of this study was to assess the differential influence of thoracic and lumbar epidural anaesthesia and analgesia (EAA) on blood lactate levels and central venous oxygen saturation (ScvO2) as parameters of global oxygen supply/demand ratio, as well as on the plasma disappearance rate of indocyanine green (PDR(ICG)), a noninvasive method to evaluate liver perfusion.

Methods: We enrolled 17 patients receiving thoracic and 17 patients receiving lumbar EAA in addition to general anaesthesia for major abdominal surgery.