For patients with open colorectal cancer surgery, the application of EA leads to a reduction in pneumonia. Although this is only a retrospective study, it strongly supports the use of EA.

A single dose of preoperative dexamethasone administration is an effective, safe, and economical measure to reduce PONV incidence after thyroidectomy.

In our single-centre study of thoracic epidural analgesia, serious adverse events occurred in 0.1% cases (1 : 1000), whereas long-term outcome was compromised in 0.014% (1.4 : 10 000) which is similar to the serious adverse event rates and outcomes reported in the current literature.