[Three successful cases of relieved abdominal fullness by thoracic epidural analgesia]

We report three successful cases of treating intractable abdominal fullness associated with cancer by continuous thoracic epidural analgesia. Case 1 was a 31-year-old woman with sarcoma of the uterus suffering from back and epigastric pain; abdominal fullness was treated by continuous epidural analgesia with ropivacaine and morphine. After epidural analgesia, symptoms disappeared and removal of ascites was unnecessary. Case 2 was an 18-year-old woman with Ewing's sarcoma suffering from abdominal fullness and fentanyl patch-resistant cancer pain. After continuous epidural analgesia, symptoms disappeared and she was discharged for home care. Case 3 was a 63-year-old woman with advanced liver cancer who was treated with epidural analgesia for cancer pain. She also suffered from abdominal fullness due to meteorism caused by intestinal hypomotility by cancer invasion to the spine. Thoracic epidural analgesia effectively treated cancer pain and reduced abdominal fullness, allowing her to continue hospital visits. Our findings suggest that epidural analgesia may effectively treat opioid-resistant intractable abdominal fullness.