Higashi M, et al. - In patients undergoing thoracic surgery, researchers compared programmed intermittent bolus (PIB) epidural analgesia vs continuous epidural infusion (CEI) with respect to their efficacies in this randomized prospective study. Overall patients included in this study were 42, who were classified into CEI (n = 21) and PIB groups (n = 21). At a rate of 5.1 mL/90 min, continuous infusion of the local anesthetic was received by the CEI group patients. At a dose of 5.1 mL every 90 min, the local anesthetic was delivered by a pump in the PIB group. Based on the findings, they concluded that a reduced local anesthetic consumption in thoracic surgery can be achieved with PIB. However, adverse events, such as hypotension, might occur in relation to PIB.