Epidural Analgesia for Pancreatitis (Epipan Study)

Thoracic epidural analgesia will be performed using ropivacaine (2 mg/ml), sufentanil (0.5 microg/ml) administered through a patient-controlled deviced (PCEA : patient-controlled epidural analgesia). PCEA parameters will be fixed as follows : continuous administration of 5 to 15 ml/h and bolus of 3 to 10 ml every 10 minutes. Iterative epidural administration of clonidine (1 mckg/kg) will be allowed to achieve analgesia goals.

Conventional analgesia will include enteral and/or parental administration of usual analgesics, ranging from step 1 to step 3 drugs according to WHO classification (including acetaminophen, nefopam, tramadol, opidoids). The route, dose and frequency of analgesics administrations will be based on participating ICUs protocols.