Assessing the Benefits of Preoperative Thoracic Epidural Placement for Lung Transplantation.

Objective: The authors investigated the effect of preoperative thoracic epidural (PreTE) catheter placement versus not placing a preoperative thoracic epidural catheter (NoPreTE) on the duration of postoperative ventilation time, time to become coherent (measured as time to become Confusion Assessment Method-intensive care unit [ICU] negative), opioid consumption, ICU length of stay (LOS), and hospital LOS.

Design: Retrospective cohort design.

Setting: Single institution, university hospital.

Participants: Patients undergoing lung transplantation.

Comparison Groups: PreTE group was defined as patients who received a thoracic epidural preoperatively. NoPreTE group was defined as patients who either received a thoracic epidural postoperatively or who did not receive a thoracic epidural postoperatively.

Measurements And Main Results: Fifty-six patients for the PreTE and 99 for NoPreTE groups were included in the study. After a excluding patients with postoperative ventilation times greater than 96 hours, preoperative thoracic epidural was associated with shorter time on the ventilator (19.1 hours v 30.6 hours; p < 0.001), time to become coherent (26.4 hours v 37.6 hours; p = 0.008), ICU LOS (6.4 days v 12.4 days; p = 0.018), and hospital LOS (15.9 days v 23.5 days; p = 0.04) compared to patients who did not receive a preoperative epidural. After controlling for single versus double lung transplantation and duration of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), differences in time to become coherent, ICU LOS, and hospital LOS became nonsignificant. Opioid consumption was significantly higher in those patients who did not receive a preoperative epidural. Despite a high rate of anticoagulation for CPB (89.5%), no neurologic complications or epidural hematomas were observed.

Conclusion: For those lung transplant patients ventilated for less than 96 hours postoperatively, preoperative thoracic epidural placement is associated with shorter postoperative ventilator time and reduced opioid consumption. Time to become coherent postoperatively, ICU LOS, and hospital LOS also improved in this cohort, though the significance decreased after adjusting for possible confounders. A larger prospective study is necessary to confirm if timing of thoracic epidural placement alters time to become coherent postoperatively and ICU LOS.