Assessing the Benefits of Preoperative Thoracic Epidural Placement for Lung Transplantation.

For those lung transplant patients ventilated for less than 96 hours postoperatively, preoperative thoracic epidural placement is associated with shorter postoperative ventilator time and reduced opioid consumption. Time to become coherent postoperatively, ICU LOS, and hospital LOS also improved in this cohort, though the significance decreased after adjusting for possible confounders. A larger prospective study is necessary to confirm if timing of thoracic epidural placement alters time to become coherent postoperatively and ICU LOS.