Fig. 3.

a The sum of rescue doses of the TEA during the first 2 postoperative days. Median (line within box), interquartile range (box) and range (error bars) are shown. *p < 0.05. b, c Pain was assessed by the use of a NRS ranging from 0 to 10 after surgery, from the morning on POD1, twice daily at rest (b) and coughing (c) thereafter until POD 3 for TEA alone patients (dot-line) and TEA + acetaminophen patients (continuous line), respectively. Data are expressed as mean ± SD. TEA thoracic epidural analgesia, NRS numeric rating scale,