Thoracic epidural anesthesia for coronary bypass via left anterior thoracotomy in the conscious patient

Cardiac surgery is perceived to be maximally invasive and fraught with complications. Secondary to this, cardiothoracic surgeons have been refining traditional techniques to minimize their invasive nature. Epidural anesthesia has been utilized safely and effectively for numerous surgical procedures to reduce the associated morbidity. In hopes of achieving a similar result, we utilized thoracic epidural anesthesia for a coronary artery bypass via a left anterior thoracotomy, in an awake, spontaneously breathing patient. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case utilizing this approach. Herein we report the results and technique utilized. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.