Renal transplantation--choice of anesthesia

The appropriate anesthesia for renal transplantation (RT) requires minimal toxicity for patient and transplant besides of sufficient pain relief and correction of vital functions. Since 1990 for this reason prolonged epidural anesthesia (PEA) was used for 42 RT. The catheterization of epidural space was performed on the spine level Th9-Th12. Lidocaine and Bupivacaine solutions were used for epidural block. Sedation during the operation was performed only with low doses of Diazepam and Sodium Oxybutyrate. After the operation epidural catheters were used for pain relief during 2-5 postoperative days. Less cardiodepressive effect, stable intraoperative hemodynamics and absence of serious post-operative pulmonary complications were observed in patients operated under PEA. Also less toxic action of PEA for recipient as well as for renal allograft was marked. Obtained results show that PEA might be the preferable method for RT due to its lower toxicity, significantly less number of postoperative complications.