title: Comparison of epidural and combined spinal-epidural analgesia in the management of labour without pain.
abstract: The effects of combined spinal-epidural analgesia (CSEA) and epidural analgesia (EA) were studied in 50 healthy parturients randomly allocated to receive bupivacaine plus fentanyl either epidurally, or intrathecally and epidurally. Significant differences from baseline values were seen in systolic blood pressure at all time-points except for 4 h in the EA group and at 3 and 4 h in the CSEA group. Significant differences from baseline values were seen in diastolic blood pressure at 1, 2, 3 and 4 h in the EA group, whereas no significant differences from baseline were seen in the CSEA group. Pain scores in both groups were significantly decreased compared with baseline and all scores, except at 2h, were significantly lower in the CSEA group compared with the EA group. The duration of labour and total amount of drugs used were significantly decreased and cervical dilatation was faster with CSEA compared with EA. In conclusion, CSEA was associated with more rapid onset of analgesia and faster progress in cervical dilatation compared with EA, and can be used safely for labour analgesia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology and Reanimation, Faculty of Medicine, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey. nurtenkayacan@yahoo.com
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kayacan
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ertugrul
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cete
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Coskunfirat
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akar
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Karsli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Erman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015360:Analgesia, Epidural; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D002045:Bupivacaine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005260:Female; D005283:Fentanyl / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D048949:Labor Pain / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011247:Pregnancy
chemical_list: D005283:Fentanyl; D002045:Bupivacaine