The addition of fentanyl to epidural bupivacaine in first stage labour

Epidural analgesia was studied in 100 healthy Chinese women with uncomplicated pregnancies in first stage labour. Patients were randomly allocated to receive 8 ml of one of the following five solutions: bupivacaine 0.125% with fentanyl 50 micrograms or fentanyl 100 micrograms, bupivacaine 0.25% plain, bupivacaine 0.25% with fentanyl 50 micrograms or fentanyl 100 micrograms. There was no difference in quality of analgesia among groups as measured by the reduction of visual analogue pain scores 20 minutes after the epidural dose. The duration of analgesia was similar among groups with the overall median duration being 105 minutes. There was no difference in method of delivery or neonatal Apgar scores. The least concentrated mixture providing good quality analgesia for the first stage of labour was the combination of bupivacaine 0.125% with fentanyl 50 micrograms.