Comparison between intravenous and thoracic epidural analgesia in single coronary artery bypass graft surgery

Aim: To compare thoracic epidural analgesia with intravenous analgesia in patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting surgery.Materials and methods: This retrospective study included 40 patients who had received elective single artery bypass surgery. After general anesthesia, one group was given patient-controlled thoracic epidural analgesia and the other group was given patient-controlled intravenous meperidine analgesia. Patient assessments were performed during the postoperative period and included the duration of hospital stay, pain and sedation scores, ambulation score, atrial fibrillation incidence, and organ morbidities.Results: No differences were detected between the groups in the demographic or intraoperative data. However, a statistically significant difference was detected in favor of thoracic epidural analgesia for the duration of extubation and hospital stay, pain control, sedation grade, mobilization, and quality of recovery scores.Conclusion: After single coronary artery surgery, thoracic epidural analgesia was more effective than intravenous analgesia; it also enabled earlier tracheal extubation and a shorter hospitalization period.