LAUSR

Patients who have undergone open abdominal aortic surgery experience high levels of pain and currently are treated with epidural analgesia and/ or systemic opioids intraoperatively and postoperatively. Pain is an important symptom nurses frequently assess for patients. This summary compares two options for postoperative pain management: epidural analgesia or systemic opioid-based analgesia. Epidural anesthesia or analgesia is an injection of either local anesthetic or opioids or both into the epidural space. There are differing opinions on the value of epidural anesthesia versus analgesia for this patient population. Abdominal aortic aneurysms are a focal dilation of at least 1.5 times the normal diameter or the absolute value of 3.0 cm or greater of the abdominal aorta. Although endovascular aneurysm repair is an alternative option to open abdominal aortic surgery,