Open Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780190856649.003.0014
This chapter describes the significant challenge that open repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms poses for acute pain medicine physicians. In particular, acute pain medicine physicians must have a solid understanding of ischemic pain mechanisms and temporizing analgesic strategies. Epidural analgesia is often optimal for postoperative pain control, but risks must be weighed in the setting of commonly used anticoagulants in this population. Patient-controlled opioid-based analgesia is an option; an advantage of its use is that the patient typically spends less time in pain and tends to use less medication than when medication is given according to a set schedule. However, it is characterized by numerous concerns related to safety and adverse events; if the PCA device is not programmed properly, it can result in the under- or overdosing of narcotics.
Access to the complete content on Oxford Medicine Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts for each book and chapter without a subscription.
Please subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.
For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
