[The effect of epidural anesthesia on reducing blood loss during upper abdominal surgery]

We examined the advantage of the combined epidural anesthesia with general anesthesia for the upper abdominal surgery One hundred and thirty-five gastric cancer patients were subjected to the study. They were divided into four groups. Group A (n = 46) and B (n = 44) received distal gastrectomy, and group C (n = 27) and D (n = 18) received total gastrectomy. In group A and C, anesthesia was maintained with combined epidural and general anesthesia. In group B and D, only general anesthesia was administered. We compared group A versus B and groups C versus D. The parameters for the comparisons were intraoperative blood loss, averaged mean blood pressure, surgical operation time, etc. The patient background was not different between group A and B, and also between group C and D. The blood loss and mean blood pressure were significantly lower in groups A and C than in groups B and D. But there was no correlation between the blood loss and mean blood pressure. The results suggest that the fall of the mean blood pressure is one of the causes of reduced blood loss, but the causes may include other complicated parameters. We conclude that the combined use of epidural anesthesia with general anesthesia is useful for reducing the amount of blood loss for upper abdominal surgery.