Anesthetic management of a patient with severe combined pulmonary disease under epidural anesthesia with spontaneous respiration

A 74-year-old man with gastric cancer was complicated with abdominal aortic aneurysm. A two-stage operation was scheduled (repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm and subsequent gastrectomy). He also had severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We planned to maintain spontaneous breathing during operations under epidural anesthesia and light general anesthesia. For the first surgery, two epidural catheters were placed at T1-2 and T7-8 on the day before surgery. After establishing epidural anesthesia, general anesthesia was induced and maintained with midazolam, fentanyl and sevoflurane, but without muscle relaxants under BIS monitoring. Ropivacaine solution 0.375% was infused through an epidural catheter to provide analgesia, and spontaneous breathing was kept throughout the procedure. Surgery lasted 4 hours and 50 minutes, and patient recovered without complications. Forty days after the first surgery, the second operation was scheduled. Anesthetic management was almost the same as in the first one, except for the use of dexmedetomizine rather than sevoflurane. In both operations, sufficient analgesia was provided with epidural anesthesia, and the surgeons rated muscle relaxation as satisfactory. No respiratory complications developed postoperatively. Maintaining spontaneous breathing during abdominal surgery using epidural anesthesia and light general anesthesia is a good option for COPD patients.