Gonon A, et al. - Researchers assessed the impact of thoracic epidural analgesia (TEDA) on quality of life (QoL, base for power analysis) in patients with refractory angina and exercise inducible hypoperfusion. They also investigated whether TEDA with bupivacaine during 1 month counteracted exercise-induced myocardial hypoperfusion and increased physical performance. In a double-blind fashion, patients randomly received 1-month treatment with TEDA with bupivacaine (B-group, n = 9) or saline (P-group, n = 10). Compared to TEDA with saline, TEDA with bupivacaine’s ability to inhibit myocardial ischemia was evident in this patient population with refractory angina. Even if physical performance stayed low, a better quality of life and attenuated angina were provided by TEDA during 1 month.