[Intravenous patient controlled analgesia combined with continuous thoracic epidural analgesia for post-thoracotomy pain].

We compared the efficacy of intravenous patient controlled analgesia of buprenorphine plus continuous thoracic epidural infusion of bupivacaine (IV-PCA group) with the efficacy of continuous thoracic epidural infusion of bupivacaine and buprenorphine (the TEA group). No patient in IV-PCA group required supplemental analgesics, while 90% of TEA group required supplemental intramuscular buprenorphine to relieve post-thoracotomy pain. In TEA group, 94% of the supplemental drugs were administered during night shifts. These results indicate that IV-PCA of buprenorphine combined with continuous thoracic epidural infusion of bupivacaine is more effective analgesic management than continuous TEA with buprenorphine and bupivacaine.