摘要本文对33例60岁以上老年人硬膜外阻滞后肺功能变化特点进行总结，并以44例非老年人作对照。结果发现老年人硬膜外阻滞后每分静息通气量显著增加，这种增加与年龄有关而与阻滞平面关系不大。结合老年人呼吸储备差、心血管系统不稳定成为硬膜外阻滞后发生呼吸功能不全的好发人群。本文老年人静息通气量的升高提示，硬膜外阻滞中外周运动阻滞可能不是影响阻滞后肺功能的唯一机制，而老年人阻滞后呼吸中枢兴奋性的改变可能是发生影响的另一途径。硬膜外阻滞后通气储备功能的变化主要与平面有关，不同年龄组阻滞后通气储备下降幅度无明显差异。

abstractsThe respiratory function of 33 elderly patients aged over 60 years old were investigated before and after epidural block, while 44 younger patients were followed as a control group. It was noticeably found that the volume of minute resting ventilation after block increased significantly which was related to patient's age only, but not to block levelConsidering the underlying pulmonary diseases and damaged respiratory reserve in aged patients, they have a tendency to develop respiratory distress in the period of epidural blockThe increase of resting ventilation in aged patients suggests that peripheral motor block is not the sole mechanism to influence respiratory function while the change of the excitability of respiratory center possibly plays another role in itThe observation of respiratory reserve in this study supports that there is a general decrease in ventilatory reserve during epidural block which depends mainly on blocking level rather than the age