Analgesic techniques following thoracic surgery: a survey of United Kingdom practice.

Background And Objective: The authors present a national survey determining the current practice of postoperative analgesia after major thoracic surgery in the United Kingdom.

Methods: Two hundred and forty anaesthetists from 36 thoracic centres were surveyed and the response rate was 78%.

Results: The commonest analgesic technique after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery is paravertebral block combined with patient-controlled analgesia with morphine. In open thoracotomy procedures, although epidural analgesia was used by a majority of the respondents, paravertebral block combined with patient-controlled analgesia with morphine is gaining popularity as an alternate technique for postoperative analgesia.

Conclusion: The present survey demonstrates the increasing use of paravertebral block as an alternate regional anaesthetic technique to epidural analgesia after major thoracic surgery in the United Kingdom.