Comment: It is true that this and other studies have shown that patients require less epidural morphine when delivered in the thoracic region compared with the lumbar region for pain after a thoracotomy. However, in my mind, the significance of this is negligible when compared with the potential difficulties in performing a thoracic epidural vs. a high lumbar epidural. For example the difference between 12 mg during the first 24 hr in the thoracic group vs. 16 mg in the lumbar group thoracotomy in this study is far outweighed by the difficulty and possible complications of thoracic vs. lumbar epidural.