title: Obstetrical epidural anaesthesia in a rural Canadian hospital.
abstract: Few rural hospitals offer obstetric epidural analgesia services and of those that do, there is a paucity of information about these anaesthetics. A retrospective review was conducted of all obstetrical epidurals from 1984-1988 in an 85-bed hospital in Saskatchewan to examine the indications, complications, and infant outcomes. During that period there were 1224 deliveries. From a total of 915 vaginal deliveries, 42 (4.6%) received an epidural. Caesarean sections numbered 309: 183 (59.3%) were with epidural analgesia of which 69 were urgent and 114 elective. The overall complication rate was 23% with the most important being hypotension (12%), dural punctures (1.8%), inadequate block requiring an intravenous supplement (4.0%) or a general anaesthetic (3.1%). Infant outcomes were favourable except for two unrelated intra-uterine deaths preceding labour.
authors.affiliation: Melfort Union Hospital, Saskatchewan, Canada.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Webb
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Kantor
mesh_terms: D000767:Anesthesia, Epidural / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000773:Anesthesia, Obstetrical / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001034:Apgar Score; D002045:Bupivacaine; D002585:Cesarean Section / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006780:Hospitals, Rural / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007743:Labor, Obstetric; D008012:Lidocaine; D011247:Pregnancy; D012525:Saskatchewan / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D008012:Lidocaine; D002045:Bupivacaine