5.7 Epidural PCA
Two meta-analysis have concluded that IV PCA is less effective than continuous epidural
and PCA-epidural analgesia.32, 33
Local anesthetics are not widely used as the sole agent in postoperative epidural analgesia.
To achieve effective analgesia using local anesthetics alone, patients will require higher
concentrations of the drugs that could result in hypotension and motor block. Nevertheless,
epidural of local anesthetics alone may be warranted in situations in which the side effects
of opioids are troublesome to the patient.
The most commonly used local anesthetics in epidural analgesic preparations are
bupivacaine, ropivacaine and levobupivacaine. Nowadays for many clinicians ropivacaine
is the local anesthetic of choice for background infusions because of their unique property of
minimum motor blockade. Most authors recommend an infusion with a 1-2% concentration
of ropivacaine at a 4-6ml/hr. An additional opioid could be used in the same mixture.