Anesthesia and analgesia for labor.

Epidural analgesia remains the mainstay for providing pain relief during labor. The search continues to find the ideal combination of analgesic agents and administration techniques that will provide excellent pain relief for the mother yet minimize side effects to the mother and fetus. This article reviews recent studies of epidural analgesia, including the increased use of epidural opioids, patient-controlled epidural analgesia, and the complications of epidural analgesia (including effects on gastric emptying, maternal temperature control, and hemodynamic changes to the mother and fetus). Intrathecal (spinal) analgesia, especially using opioids, is also discussed.     

Analgesic efficacy of intramuscular opioids versus epidural analgesia in labor.

OBJECTIVES: To compare analgesic efficacy of intramuscular opioids: meperidine and tramadol with epidural analgesia. METHODS: One hundred and twenty-eight term nulliparous women with singleton pregnancy and vertex presentation were randomized to receive either epidural (n=43), meperidine (n=39) or tramadol (n=44). A visual analog scale (VAS) was used to assess the severity of pain. The parameters analyzed were analgesic efficacy, effect on labor, other maternal side effects, perinatal outcome and maternal satisfaction. RESULTS: Median VAS scores following first dose were 0 (0-5), 5 (3-8) and 5 (3-8) in epidural, meperidine and tramadol groups, respectively. Ninety percent of women rated analgesia as good to excellent in the epidural group as compared with 72% of women in the meperidine group and 65% in tramadol group. However, epidural caused a significant prolongation of first (P<0.05) and second (P<0.01) stage of labor with an increased number of operative deliveries (27% in the epidural, 7.6% in the meperidine, and 11.4% in the tramadol groups, P<0.05). In the epidural group 40% women had urinary retention and 16% had motor weakness, whereas sedation was the only side effect seen in the meperidine (41%) and tramadol groups (9%). Respiratory depression was noted among three neonates in the meperidine group, two in the tramadol group and none in the epidural group. CONCLUSIONS: The analgesic efficacy and maternal satisfaction is better with epidural analgesia than with opioids. Analgesia provided by meperidine and tramadol is comparable and approximately 50% of women rated the analgesia as good. Meperidine is better in the second stage than tramadol. Hence in developing nations where availability of facilities is the main limiting factor, intramuscular opioids can be considered suitable alternatives.     

蛛网膜下腔-硬膜外联合阻滞麻醉用于分娩镇痛206例分析

目的　探讨分娩镇痛的效果及对产程、母婴状况的影响。方法　采用蛛网膜下腔 -硬膜外联合阻滞(CSEA)用于分娩镇痛的产妇 2 0 6例作为观察组 ,将未采用任何分娩镇痛药物而进入产程的产妇 2 0 6例作为对照组 ,分别观察产程时间、分娩方式、产后出血、胎儿窘迫及新生儿窒息情况。结果　两组产程活跃期比较 ,有极显著性差异 (P <0 0 1) ;两组分娩方式比较有显著性差异 (P <0 0 5 ) ;两组胎儿窘迫、新生儿窒息及产后出血发生率比较 ,无显著性差异 (P >0 0 5 )。结论　CSEA用于分娩镇痛 ,疼痛阻滞完善 ,加速了产程活跃期及第二产程的进展 ,降低了剖宫产及阴道难产率 ,对母婴均无不良影响     

Labor pain and its management with the combined spinal–epidural analgesia: what does an obstetrician need to know?

Most women rate pain of childbirth as the most painful experience of their lives. Lumbar epidural analgesia is widely considered as the most effective method of providing pain relief in labor. However, lumbar epidural analgesia for labor is not a standard (generic) procedure and many technical modifications have been developed and introduced into clinical practice over time. The combined spinal–epidural labor analgesia technique (CSEA) has attained wide spread popularity in obstetric anesthesia worldwide. The onset of analgesia is rapid and reliable, and maternal satisfaction is very high. While there still remains some concern about dural puncture, and while the pros and cons of using the CSEA as opposed to traditional epidural for labor pain are still being debated, it appears certain that the CSEA technique offers many unique advantages to the pregnant woman.     

Risks and Benefits of Obstetric Epidural Analgesia: A Review

ABSTRACT: Based on a survey of the literature, this paper reviews the risks and benefits of epidural analgesia in normal healthy newborns and their mothers. Issues like effectiveness, maternal satisfaction, prolongation of labor, instrumental delivery and neurobehavioral effects are discussed. It seems that the slowing of labor and increased instrumental delivery are the main undesirable effects. Neonatal behavioral effects of epidural analgesia are unclear. Studies consistently show that epidurals are effective for pain relief during labor. Much remains to be learned about the specific neurobehavioral, psychological, and physiological effects of epidural analgesia.     

Epidural analgesia: effects on labor progress and maternal and neonatal outcome

The intended and unintended effects of epidural labor analgesia are reviewed. Mothers randomized to epidural rather than parenteral opioid analgesia have better pain relief. Fetal oxygenation is not affected by analgesic method; however, neonates whose mothers received intravenous or intramuscular opioids rather than epidural analgesia require more naloxone and have lower Apgar scores. Epidural analgesia does not affect the rates of cesarean delivery, obstetrically indicated instrumented vaginal delivery, neonatal sepsis, or new-onset back pain. Epidural analgesia is associated with longer second labor stages, more frequent oxytocin augmentation, and maternal fever (particularly among women who shiver and women receiving epidural analgesia for > 5 hours) but not with longer first labor stages. Epidural analgesia has no affect but intrapartum opioids decrease lactation success. Epidural use and urinary incontinence are weakly, but probably not causally, associated. Epidural labor analgesia would improve if the mechanisms of these unintended effects could be determined.     

阴道分娩镇痛相关热点问题

分娩镇痛总体上分为非药物性和药物性镇痛方法。前者以拉玛泽呼吸镇痛法、导乐陪伴分娩等为主,后者主要是镇痛效果切实可靠的椎管内阻滞镇痛。文章就镇痛对剖宫产率、助产率、胎心率及母体发热的影响等热点问题进行了论述,也阐述了潜伏期镇痛和静脉镇痛的可行性。     

Nitrous oxide labor analgesia and pain relief memory in breastfeeding women

Objective: The use of labor pain relief medications is a controversial issue that has engendered heated discussions among health care professionals about safety, interference with birthing, and breastfeeding.

Methods: This is a case–control study with 62 puerperae treated with nitrous oxide and 124 control women (ratio 1:2), matched for age, gestational age, parity, delivery route, labor augmentation, and spinal regional analgesia. We tested anhedonia, anxiety, and depression symptoms at hospital discharge by The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and the intensity of nitrous oxide labor pain relief and satisfaction memory by a retrospective Visual Analog Scale (VAS, 0–10 Numeric Rating Scale) at a set cut off time of 3 months of a child’s age.

Results: Nitrous oxide use did not influence EPDS subscales upon discharge. Its use was instead associated with a lasting positive labor pain relief experience (VAS, 7.3?±?2.2) in 83.5% of women, and labor satisfaction memory (VAS, 8.9?±?1.8) in 90% of women, respectively, and with a significantly higher breastfeeding rates from the seventh day after discharge (p?p?p?Conclusions: Nitrous oxide labor analgesia is associated with favorable effects on both women’s psychoemotional experience of labor and breastfeeding success.     

Schmerztherapie in der Geburtshilfe

Epidural analgesia is an effective method against labor pain. There is minimal interaction with the course of labor, and there is no influence on the frequency of cesarean section. The latest developments with programmed intermittent epidural boluses are promising. Analgesia with parenteral opioids has the disadvantage of systemic effects, especially respiratory depression. The safety profile of patient-controlled remifentanil is not yet determined and it is presently recommended when there are contraindications for neuraxial analgesia.     

Labor Pain Management Other Than Neuraxial: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go Next?

Analgesia and coping with labor pain can prevent suffering during childbirth. Nonpharmacologic methods help women manage labor pain. Strong evidence is available for the efficacy of continuous one‐to‐one support from a woman trained to provide nonmedical care during labor, immersion in warm water during first‐stage labor, and sterile water injected intracutaneously or subcutaneously at locations near a woman's lumbosacral spine to reduce back‐labor pain. Sterile water injections also reduce the incidence of cesarean deliveries. Nitrous oxide labor analgesia is not potent, but helps women relax, gives them a sense of control, and reduces and distracts their perception of pain. It is inexpensive; can be administered and discontinued safely, simply, and quickly; has no adverse effects on the normal physiology and progress of labor; and does not require intensive monitoring or co‐interventions. Parenteral opioids provide mild‐to‐moderate labor pain relief, but cause side effects. Although observational studies have found associations between maternal use of opioids and neonatal complications, little higher level evidence is available except that meperidine is associated with low Apgar scores. Patient‐controlled intravenous administration of remifentanil provides better analgesia and satisfaction than other opioids, but can cause severe side effects; continuous monitoring of arterial oxygen saturation, anesthesia supervision, one‐to‐one nursing, and availability of oxygen are recommended. The demand for inexpensive, simple, safe but effective labor pain management for women will undoubtedly increase in places that lack wide access to it now. (BIRTH 39:4 December 2012)     

Labor pain and obstetric analgesia

GOAL AND METHODS: Labor pain is of major concern since most parturients experience significant pain of extremely severe intensity for many. The purpose of this review was to provide an overview of the mechanisms and pathways of labor pain (including new insights on integration of the nociceptive signal) and to emphasize the need of effective labor pain relief. RESULTS: Labor pain can have deleterious effects on the mother, on the fetus and on labor outcome itself. Among the current methods of obstetric analgesia, regional analgesia (the most widespread technique being epidural analgesia) offers the best effectiveness/safety ratio thanks to pharmacological innovations. Systemic analgesia (parenteral opioids, nonopioid painkillers and inhaled anesthetic agents) provides an alternative to regional analgesia but remains less effective and more hazardous. Non-drug approaches (namely psychoprophylaxis and physical methods) may be effective when used with epidural analgesia but are often not potent enough when used alone. CONCLUSION: Despite its complex pathophysiology, labor pain can be efficiently managed. Thanks to multidisciplinary care, obstetric analgesia (mainly epidural analgesia) prevents deleterious effects of labor pain on the mother and fetus.     

The effects of epidural analgesia on the course and outcome of labour

The potential effects of epidural analgesia on the progress and outcome of labour have been the subject of lasting controversy. Retrospective reviews indicate that epidurals are associated with longer labours and/or an increase in the incidence of instrumental or operative delivery. Similar results were obtained in non-randomized prospective studies. None of them established a causal relationship, because without randomization the selection bias cannot be ruled out. Other factors, such as premature rupture of membranes and maternal socioeconomic status, may affect the outcome of labour. It was also reported that introduction of the on-demand epidural service did not increase the primary caesarean section rate. The few prospective randomized studies are contradictory and not very reliable owing to small patient populations and high cross-over rates. There is, however, unanimity among the authors regarding the superiority of pain relief provided by epidural blocks over systemically administered opioids.     

Labor analgesia for the parturient with herbal medicines use: what does an obstetrician need to know?

The use of herbal medicines in the developed world is widespread, and increasing. Herbal medicines, which include a wide spectrum of substances ranging from home-made teas to the national regulatory bodies-approved medicinal substances, are defined as plant-derived products that are used for medicinal and/or nutritional purposes. The use of herbal self-therapy is common in pregnancy, with many parturients consuming more than one agent at a time. Despite widespread use there has been surprisingly little research into the outcomes or the potential risks of using herbal therapies during pregnancy. As epidural analgesia is the most popular form of pain relief in labor, the potential for herbal remedies-related alterations in maternal hemodynamics (e.g., hypertension, tachycardia), and increased bleeding tendencies (e.g., spinal-epidural hematoma) remain a significant concern. Obstetricians and obstetric anesthesiologists must be familiar with the effects of herbal medicines and should specifically enquire about the use of herbal medicines during prenatal/preanesthetic assessment. This review article attempts to summarize current data on special considerations for labor analgesia in parturients with herbal medicines use.     

Patient-controlled epidural analgesia during labor

This study compared the safety, efficacy, local anesthetic usage, patient satisfaction, and anesthesia manpower demands of patient-controlled epidural analgesia and continuous epidural infusion during labor. After establishment of epidural analgesia, 88 parturients with vertex presentation were assigned randomly to receive either patient-controlled epidural analgesia or continuous epidural infusion, using 0.125% bupivacaine containing 1 microgram/mL of fentanyl. Inadequate analgesia was treated in both groups with a 10-mL "top-up" of 0.25% bupivacaine. Patients receiving patient-controlled epidural analgesia required significantly fewer supplemental top-up doses (36 versus 71%; P less than .05) and insignificantly less local anesthetic (13.6 +/- 0.6 versus 14.6 +/- 0.5 mL/hour; P = .10). The two groups did not differ in incidence of hypotension, high sensory blockade (above T8), mode of delivery, or patient satisfaction assessed by questionnaire. Use of local anesthetic solution was examined with respect to cervical dilatation and did not increase late in labor. Patients generally viewed infusion technology favorably. These findings suggest that patient-controlled epidural analgesia is safe and effective, reduces anesthesia manpower needs, and is well accepted.     

Epidural analgesia for labor pain and its relationship to fever

The association between labor epidural and maternal fever is well established. The direct effect of epidural on maternal temperature appears due to its interference with heat dissipation and rarely results in overt fever. This effect is unlikely to adversely affect the fetus, the majority of women in labor do not appear to be at risk, and the full ramification of the fever is not yet well understood. Thus it seems unreasonable to avoid labor epidurals due to the risk of fever. Epidural analgesia remains one of the most effective forms of pain relief in labor and is a reasonable option for most women.     

Analgesia and anaesthesia in labour

Labour is one of the most painful experiences women encounter. Modern practice encompasses a number of techniques to alleviate this, from complementary therapies to invasive procedures. Pain induces a physiological stress response which has a number of deleterious effects on the body. Pharmacological methods of pain relief are the most popular – namely nitrous oxide, opioids and epidural analgesia. The latter is by far the most effective and is regarded as the gold standard. Importantly, intrapartum opioid use may be associated with the risk of neonatal respiratory depression. Nonpharmacological techniques vary in their efficacy. Of these hydrotherapy, acupuncture, continuous labour support and intradermal water blocks show the most promise. None of the methods available constitute the ideal analgesic for labour and choice should be based on maternal preference, with regular re-evaluation to ensure adequate effect.     

Ambulatory epidural anesthesia and the duration of labor.

OBJECTIVES: Ambulatory epidural analgesia has become a common option for women in labor in France. We tested the hypothesis that a method of epidural analgesia that allowed women to walk had specific advantages regarding mode of delivery, consumption of local anesthetic, oxytocin requirement, and labor duration. METHODS: Two hundred and twenty-one women with uncomplicated pregnancies who presented in spontaneous labor between 36 and 42 weeks of gestation or who were scheduled for induced labor were randomly divided into two groups, ambulatory and non-ambulatory. All were given intermittent epidural injections of 0.1% ropivacaine with 0.6 microg/ml sufentanil for analgesia during labor (P<0.05 was considered significant). None of the women had previous cesarean delivery. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the two groups in mode of delivery, consumption of local anesthetic, or oxytocin requirement. However, a significant difference was noted in labor duration (173.4+/-109.9 min vs. 236.4+/-130.6 min; P=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Walking with ambulatory labor analgesia shortens labor duration but has no other effect on the progress and outcome of labor.     

Neuraxial analgesia versus intravenous remifentanil for pain relief in early labor in nulliparous women

Objective

To assess if there is a difference in duration of labor, the mode of delivery, average Visual Analog Scale (VAS) pain scores, maternal overall satisfaction with analgesia, side effects and neonatal outcomes in nulliparous women who received early labor analgesia with either epidural, patient-controlled IV analgesia (PCIA) with remifentanil or combined spinal–epidural (CSE) techniques.

Study design

This is a prospective randomized interventional study.

Subjects and methods

The study included 1,140 healthy nulliparous women (with term, singleton pregnancies) early in labor, requesting labor analgesia, during the period from September 2009 to August 2011 at TAIBA Hospital in Kuwait. The participants were randomized to receive either epidural analgesia (Group I), or PCIA with remifentanil (Group II) or CSE analgesia (Group III). The primary outcome was the rate of cesarean delivery.

Results

CSE analgesia was associated with a statistically highly significant decrease in labor duration (from analgesia to vaginal delivery), duration of latent and active phases of the first stage, and duration of the second stage of labor, average VAS pain scores, and a highest maternal overall satisfaction score with analgesia (P?<?0.01) as compared to epidural analgesia or PCIA with remifentanil.

Conclusion

In terms of labor duration, average VAS pain scores, and maternal overall satisfaction score with analgesia, CSE analgesia is superior to that provided by epidural analgesia or PCIA with remifentanil for pain relief in early labor in nulliparous women. However, there were no differences in the mode of delivery, side effects or neonatal outcomes between the three techniques.     

The effect of early epidural versus early intravenous analgesia use on labor progression: a natural experiment

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of early epidural with the use of early intravenous analgesia on labor progression. STUDY DESIGN: We systematically selected singleton, nulliparous term pregnancies with a spontaneous labor and analgesia placement 相似文献   

Patient-controlled analgesia in obstetrics and gynecology

Patient-controlled analgesia, which provides pain relief through self-administration of intravenous doses of opioids, is widely available and advocated as an effective analgesic modality. This report reviews published experiences with patient-controlled analgesia during labor and after cesarean delivery or major gynecologic surgery. Currently employed devices allow accurate record-keeping of drug use and permit patient mobility. No one device has been shown to be preferable. The form of administration most commonly described is infusion of morphine or meperidine on demand without combined continuous basal infusion. During labor, brief but progressively intensifying episodes of pain undermine the effectiveness of these devices when used intravenously. Compared with intramuscular administration of narcotics, patient-controlled analgesia after cesarean or major gynecologic surgery has been judged by patients to be more acceptable in achieving a balance between tolerable pain and sedation. Respiratory depression has been rare and is often attributable to misprogramming. Costs of these devices can be justified with frequent usage and are at least partially offset by more efficient use of nursing personnel for pain management.