Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) has been advocated as a favourable model for postoperative analgesia, that allows a perfect match between intensity of pain and analgesic delivery, improves the quality of analgesia and decreases the cumulative analgesic consumption. Furthermore, the introduction of patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) with background infusion during labour gave patients a sense of control over their analgesia, reduced the total dose of local anesthetic administered, and had less motor block than those who receive continuous epidural analgesia.8-9Patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) has become increasingly popular for pain control after thoracotomy.10-12 In a previous preliminary study, McElwain et al.13 have reported satisfactory analgesia after breast cancer surgery with the use of PC-PVB, using either 15-min or 30-min lockout, that study did not include a comparative arm with a continuous paravertebral infusion. Furthermore, Abou Zeid et al. have reported comparable analgesia after thoracic surgery with the use of either patient-controlled PVB had with the use of intrathecal morphine, that study was not controlled and included few patients.14