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[Bilateral paravertebral block anesthesia for thymectomy by video-assisted thoracoscopy in patients with myasthenia

J L López-Berlanga1, I Garutti, E Martínez-Campos

  • 1Departamento de Anestesiología y Reanimación, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid.

Revista Espanola De Anestesiologia Y Reanimacion
|February 15, 2007
PubMed

Thymectomy continues to be the treatment of choice for certain patients with myasthenia gravis. As surgical techniques have developed, anesthesiologists have considered the need to adapt anesthetic techniques to improve care of patients undergoing this procedure. We describe the anesthetic management of 2 patients undergoing thymectomy performed with a bilateral thoracoscopic approach. Because it is best to avoid the use of opiates during and after surgery, we performed a bilateral paravertebral thoracic block, inserting the catheters into the paravertebral space on each side to infuse local anesthetics on either side as needed as the operation progressed. Surgery was completed without adverse events and tubes were removed from the tracheas of both patients at the end of the procedures. Bilateral continuous infusion of local anesthetics provided satisfactory analgesia on the following days.

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