Anaesthesia for major abdominal and urological surgery

Abstract

There is good evidence that epidural analgesia provides slightly better analgesia when compared with intravenous (IV) opioid regimens; incisional local anaesthetic infiltration has minimal analgesic effectiveness; supplemental IV fluids improve patient comfort, but a restrictive fluid regimen promotes return of gastrointestinal (GI) function; normothermia prevents shivering and wound infection, prophylactic antibiotics prevent infections; heparin and graduated compression stockings reduce thromboembolism; nasogastric drainage has no benefit, but early enteral feeding reduces postoperative infection and hospital stay, and may have other benefits after abdominal surgery. There is inconclusive ..