Methods	Regional anaesthesia added to general anaesthesia versus general anaesthesia
Participants	50 consecutive patients scheduled for elective abdominal aortic surgery
Interventions	General anaesthesia in all participants with thiopental, fentanyl, nitrous oxide, enflurane and pancuronium bromide Thoracic epidural analgesia (n = 25): at T9‐T10 with 2 mL of 1.5% lidocaine with epinephrine 5 mcg/mL, followed by 5 mL hourly during surgery and 0.5% bupivacaine after surgery for 72 hours IV morphine analgesia (n = 25): 2 to 5 mg/h
Outcomes	Death Myocardial infarction: new Q‐waves, 0.04 seconds' duration, 1 mm amplitude; or increased CPK (MB) considered to be diagnostic of myocardial damage with/without ECG changes; or recent myocardial infarction at autopsy. CK‐MB die for three days Pneumonia: infiltatres on chest x‐ray, plus two of temperature > 38ºC, raised white blood cell count or positive sputum. Chest x‐ray for three days
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