Combination of thoracic epidural analgesia with patient-controlled intravenous analgesia versus traditional thoracic epidural analgesia for postoperative analgesia and early recovery of laparotomy: a prospective single-centre, randomized controlled trial

Table 4 Early postoperative recovery variables for the included patients

	TEA/PCIA Group	TEA Group	P
Time to first mobilization (d)	2 [2 to 3]	3 [2 to 4]	0.015
Time to first pass flatus (d)	2 [2 to 3]	3 [2 to 3]	0.048
Time of oral intake recovery (d)	4 [2 to 5]	3 [2 to 6]	0.513
Time of urinary catheter removal (d)	3 [2 to 4.75]	3 [2 to 4]	0.832
PLOS(d)	9 [7 to 11.75]	9.5 [8 to 13]	0.345

Data are expressed as median [IQR]. TEA epidural analgesia, PCIA patient-controlled intravenous analgesia, PLOS postoperative length of hospital stay

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