Effect of posttraumatic epidural analgesia on the cortisol and hyperglycaemic response to surgery

Plasma cortisol and glucose were measured in 36 patients undergoing abdominal hysterectomy under either general anaesthesia (Group I), epidural analgesia (T4-S5) effective before surgery (Group II) or general anaesthesia plus epidural analgesia (T4-S5) effective from 30 min after initiation of surgery. The results confirmed that epidural analgesia effective before skin incision (Group II) prevented the normal per-and postoperative increase in plasma cortisol and glucose. Patients receiving posttraumatic epidural analgesia (Group III) showed the normal initial increase in plasma cortisol and glucose, but initiation of epidural analgesia immediately broke the stress-response and prevented any further increase in plasma cortisol and glucose. However, although posttraumatic neurogenic blockade inhibited a major part of the stress-response, resting endocrine-metabolic activity was not reestablished, suggesting that once released the endocrine-metabolic response to trauma leads to persistent changes even if further afferent stimuli from the traumatized area are prevented.