Exclusion criteria
allergies
CHRONIC PAIN SYNDROMES, COAGULOPATHIES, DISORDERS, ALLERGIES
The exclusion criteria are as follows: open oesophagectomy (either abdominal or thoracic), emergency operations, chronic pain syndromes requiring routine analgesics, simultaneous lung resection, or major lung laceration that has been sutured or stapled. Furthermore, the presence of contraindications to the use of epidural anaesthesia (e.g. coagulopathies, anticoagulation disorders, or allergies), participation in a competing interventional trial and impaired mental state will prohibit inclusion.