All patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy in Helsinki University Hospital are recruited in the study. Patients meeting the inclusion criteria and giving consent to participate the study will be randomised to whether epidural analgesia group or wound catheter analgesia group. Both groups get additional analgesia with intravenous PCA-oxycodone (patient controlled analgesia).
The study is a randomised controlled trial comparing the effectivity and impact of epidural analgesia and wound catheter analgesia in patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy. The aim of the study is to examine whether there are a difference in perioperative fluid therapy and complication rates between the patients in epidural and wound catheter groups.