Realização de bloqueio anestésico espinal toracolombar, com cateter epidural em neurocirurgias de cães da raça dachshund

Abstract

Dachshund dogs often suffer from intervertebral disc disease, needing anesthesia for decompressive neurosurgeries. Thoracolumbar decompression is a procedure associated with postoperative pain of strong intensity. Regional anesthesia is considered very important for controlling pain. The thoracic epidural block associated with the placement of an epidural catheter allows the use of analgesics and anesthetics in the pre and postoperative period, ensuring analgesia. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the efficacy of the technique for thoracolumbar epidural block in Dachshund dogs undergoing decompressive neurosurgeries in that region. As such, 30 dogs were selected, male or female, with intervertebral disc disease. The data collected by monitoring these patients were used to compare between the surgeries performed with (EG) and without (GC) thoracic epidural anesthesia. For this, an experiment with cadavers was performed to calculate the volume in the epidural space. The block was effective since the dogs did not respond to the evaluations of motor or sensory sensitivity, and were kept in superficial planes during the anesthetic procedure. As such, in the present study, there was a 100% success rate for the block, with a decrease in consumption of inhalant anesthetic. The dogs also did not develop arterial hypotension in either group. The results obtained suggest that the thoracic epidural block in decompressive surgery is an effective technique to decrease the endocrine responses to the anesthetic-surgical stress. The combination of thoracic epidural local anesthetic associated with general anesthesia in complicated surgeries results in a significant decrease in the postoperative stress and better final result of the procedure. Due to the results obtained, we can conclude that the thoracic epidural block is a viable technique to be used in Dachshund dogs, promoting regional analgesia, which allows decompressive neurosurgeries to be performed in patients with thoracolumbar IVDD under general superficial anesthesia.