Preoperative cardiac events in elderly patients with hip fracture randomized to epidural or conventional analgesia

Background: Perioperative myocardial ischemia occurs in 35% of unselected elderly patients undergoing hip fracture surgery. Perioperative epidural analgesia may reduce the incidence of adverse cardiac events. Methods: The effect of early administration of epidural analgesia during the stressful presurgical period, on preoperative cardiac events was evaluated in a prospective randomized study in 68 patients with hip fractures who either had known coronary artery disease or were at high risk for coronary artery disease. On admission to the emergency room, patients were assigned to receive a usual care analgesic regimen (intramuscular meperidine, control group, n = 34) or continuous epidural infusion of local anesthetic and opioid (epidural group, n = 34). Monitoring in the preoperative period included a preoperative history and physical examination, daily assessment of cardiac adverse events, serial electrocardiograms, cardiac enzymes, and pain scores. Results: Preoperative adverse cardiac events were significantly more prevalent in the control group compared with the epidural group (7 of 34 vs. 0 of 34; P = 0.01). Adverse cardiac events included fatal myocardial infarction in three, fatal congestive heart failure in one, nonfatal congestive heart failure in one, and new onset atrial fibrillation in two. The incidence of intraoperative and postoperative adverse cardiac events was similar for the two groups. The significant difference between groups in the incidence of preoperative cardiac events prompted interruption of the study after the planned interim analysis. Conclusions: The authors' data indicate that compared with conventional analgesia, early administration of continuous epidural analgesia is associated with a lower incidence of preoperative adverse cardiac events in elderly patients with hip fracture who have or are at risk for coronary artery disease. Preoperative epidural analgesia may be advantageous for this surgical population.