EPIDURAL ANESTHESIA AND ITS APPLICATION IN THE TREATMENT OF POSTOPERATIVE PAIN

Abstract

Current trends in anesthesiology indicate an increasing role for epidural anesthesia as a key component in the multimodal approach to the treatment of acute postoperative pain. In the future, additional research will help to precisely define the optimal techniques, doses, and drug combinations, in order to further improve clinical outcomes and patient safety.
The use of epidural anesthesia significantly reduces the required amount of systemic opioids, which directly contributes to a lower incidence of side effects such as nausea, vomiting, respiratory depression, and sedation. In addition, this technique improves hemodynamic balance, facilitates early mobilization of patients, and shortens the time of hospital treatment. At the same time, epidural analgesia requires appropriate patient selection, precise technique, and continuous monitoring to minimize potential complications. Although not without risks, its benefits make this method an important part of modern postoperative care.
The establishment of continuous vital monitoring, the checking of vital parameters upon admission and their monitoring are routine procedures in this department, the care of the venous line, whether it is a peripheral vein or a central one, is of particular importance, and here is the care of the epidural catheter, its patency check and whether there are any problems with its fixation during transport from the operating room to the intensive care unit.
Advantages of epidural anesthesia when used in postoperative use have their own advantages of use, which are: analgesia that will be without the use of opioids and will have a great effect, there will be a lower incidence of respiratory infections postoperatively, postoperative myocardial infarction will be reduced, stress on the body will be reduced from the surgical procedure and intestinal motility is improved due to sympathetic blockade of the nervous system.