Intrathecal Morphine Versus Epidural Analgesia for Laparoscopic Colon Surgery

Numeric Rating Scale

Total amount of administered fentanyl in mg.

Measured in minutes.

Measured in mg.

Measured with a 5-point Likert scale.

Measured with a 5-point Likert scale.

Measured with a 15-item Quality of Recovery 15 (QoR-15) scale.

Time to ward discharge in hours.

Time from surgery to hospital discharge in days.

Measured in hours, defined as the patient independently getting out of bed.

First stool or flatus after surgery measured in hours, time to oral intake

Measured with a Ramsay sedation scale (1-6)

Respiratory rate <8 /min or need for assisted ventilation.

Hypotension defined as systolic blood pressure less than 90 mmHg or diastolic less than 50 mmHg, mean arterial pressure < 60 mmHg, or decline >20% from baseline, and bradycardia defined as heart rate <50/min.

Need to convert to a second analgesic technique due to multiple reasons, e.g., inability to perform spinal puncture, inability to insert an epidural catheter, inadequate analgesia, epidural catheter malfunction, or dislodgement.

Postoperative complications will be classified according to the Clavien Dindo Classification (1, 2, 3 a, 3 b, 4 a, 4 b, 5).

Readmission is defined as patient admission related to surgical procedure within 30 days after initial discharge.