Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 2019
Practice GuidelineSociety for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology Consensus Statement: Monitoring Recommendations for Prevention and Detection of Respiratory Depression Associated With Administration of Neuraxial Morphine for Cesarean Delivery Analgesia.
This consensus statement from the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP) provides post-operative monitoring guidelines for women receiving neuraxial morphine for cesarean section analgesia.
The context
Neuraxial morphine is a widely used and effective technique for managing post-cesarean pain in the first 24 hours. However because of morphine’s low-lipid solubility, the risk of delayed repsiratory depression has required frequent respiratory monitoring in this first 24 hour period.
The SOAP task force aimed to balance opioid safety needs while avoiding excessive respiratory monitoring in new mothers. Existing ASA/ASRA guidelines were considered by many obstetric anesthesiologists to be too rigorous when applied to the healthy post-natal population, both because of their lower risk of respiratory depression and even greater need to minimize sleep interruptions.
“The SOAP Task Force members strongly agree that neuraxial morphine should be the preferred method for postcesarean delivery analgesia in healthy women.”
The recommendations
- Ultra-low dose intrathecal (≤50 mcg) or epidural (≤1 mg) morphine in low-risk women does not require extra respiratory monitoring.
- Low dose intrathecal (50-150 mcg) or epidural (1-3 mg) morphine in low-risk women should have respiratory rate and sedation monitored every 2h for the first 12h.
- Women with significant comorbities, sedation risk factors or if receiving higher morphine doses should be monitored as per ASA/ASRA guidelines.
- Low-dose intrathecal (50-150 mcg) or epidural (1-3 mg) morphine provides the best balance between analgesia and minimising side effects.
Explore more...
The paper’s full-text goes into more detail covering the evidence for the safety and efficacy of neuraxial morphine, the incidence of respiratory depression, respiratory monitoring techniques and duration, optimal dosing and analgesic regimes.
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