Do anesthesiologists need epidural anesthesia and do surgeons need an anesthesiologist?

Presented paper reviews up-to-date often contradictive concepts about the role of epidural anesthesia in anesthesiological support of patients undergone major surgery. The author performed critical analysis of the arguments of the opponents of the wide use of epidural analgesia who propose to substitute the epidural anesthesia with minimally invasive techniques in particular infiltration analgesia with local anesthetics. The article includes convincing evidence in favour of continuous epidural anesthesia remains the method of choice for open major thoracic and abdominal surgery especially in patients from high risk groups.