Long-Term Home Self-Treatment with High Thoracic Epidural Anesthesia in Patients with Severe Coronary Artery Disease

20 patients with severe coronary artery disease (CAD) and refractory unstable angina who had sustained a recent myocardial infarction (n = 7) or who were considered as either inoperable (n = 10) or at severe operative risk (n = 3)

High thoracic epidural anesthesia (TEA) via a tunneled epidural catheter for long-term self-use at home (injection of 3-5 mL of bupivacaine 5 mg/mL for severe episodes after initial use of sublingual nitrates)

Pain relief, patient satisfaction, and frequency of epidural injectionspatient reported