title: Patient-controlled epidural analgesia following combined spinal-epidural analgesia in labour: the effects of adding a continuous epidural infusion.
abstract: Patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) is used to maintain epidural analgesia following initial intrathecal analgesia. This trial investigated whether a continuous background infusion with PCEA provides superior analgesia to PCEA alone among patients who received combined spinal-epidural (CSE) analgesia during labour Eighty parturients were randomized to either PCEA alone (PCEA) or PCEA with a background infusion of ropivacaine 0.15% with sufentanil 0.75 microg/ml at 2 ml/h (PCEA + CEI). PCEA settings were a bolus of 4 ml of the same analgesic solution with a lockout interval of 15 minutes. Significantly more patients in the PCEA group required at least one anaesthetist intervention for breakthrough pain (27 [71%] vs 10 [25%] in the PCEA + CEI group, P<0.05). Consumption of local anaesthetic (excluding manually administered boluses) was similar between the groups. If anaesthetist-administered boluses were included, more local anaesthetic was consumed by the PCEA group (47.1 +/- 19.4 mg vs 35.6 +/- 12.0 mg in the PCEA + CEI group, P<0.05). We conclude that PCEA with a background infusion provides effective analgesia with less anaesthetist workload and reduced local anaesthetic consumption as compared with PCEA without a background infusion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Missant
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teunkenst
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vandermeersch
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van de Velde
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000577:Amides / Q000008:administration & dosage; D015360:Analgesia, Epidural / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D016362:Analgesia, Obstetrical / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D016058:Analgesia, Patient-Controlled / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000008:administration & dosage; D019162:Anesthetics, Combined / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000779:Anesthetics, Local / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous / Q000379:methods; D007278:Injections, Spinal / Q000379:methods; D010146:Pain / Q000517:prevention & control; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000077212:Ropivacaine; D017409:Sufentanil / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000577:Amides; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D019162:Anesthetics, Combined; D000779:Anesthetics, Local; D000077212:Ropivacaine; D017409:Sufentanil