[Prolonged peridural anesthesia after operations on the chest cavity organs in elderly patients].

From the analysis of 126 observations of the longlasting peridural anesthesia in elderly patients following operations on the lungs and thoracic organs the author notes a high effectiveness of the method. Anatomical peculiarities of the spine structure in elderly individuals make for a more frequent occurrence of such complications as impossibility to perform the puncture of the peridural space, puncture of the dura mater, drop of the arterial pressure etc. The frequency of complications was 23%; in 7.9% of them the medicamental treatment was needed. The use of the longlasting peridural anesthesia favoured an early motor activity of the elderly patients, a rapid normalization of the bronchial motor function and decrease of the rate of postoperative pulmonary complications. The longlasting peridural anesthesia should be widely applied in geriatric surgery.