International journal of obstetric anesthesia
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Int J Obstet Anesth · Nov 2019
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyA triple-blinded randomized trial comparing spinal morphine with posterior quadratus lumborum block after cesarean section.
What did they do?
Tamura and team randomised 176 elective CS patients to spinal anaesthesia with or without morphine, in addition to placebo or ultrasound-guided quadratus lumborum block (QLB).
And they found
Only intrathecal morphine significantly improved analgesia, not QLB whether performed with or without spinal morphine. Thus QLB probably does not improve analgesia further beyond current best practices.
Not so fast...
While this modest-sized RCT concluded that QLB did not improve pain after caesarean section, the conclusion is i) somewhat inconsistent with earlier studies that did show benefit, and ii) the adjuvant analgesic regime1 used may not be applicable to practice outside Japan.
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The researchers administered the remaining 90 mcg fentanyl IV, along with droperidol 1.25 mg and acetaminophen/paracetamol 15mg/kg after baby delivery. An NSAID (diclofenac 50mg) was only provided when breakthrough pain was requested. ↩
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Int J Obstet Anesth · Nov 2019
Case ReportsSuccessful treatment of a recurrent post-dural puncture headache with an epidural blood patch 18 months after the initial dural puncture.
Inadvertent dural puncture is a recognised complication of epidural insertion. Parturients are at increased risk of developing a post-dural puncture headache, which can be debilitating for a mother caring for a newborn infant. ⋯ We present the case of a woman with a recurrent post-dural puncture headache who was successfully treated with an epidural blood patch 18 months after the initial dural puncture. Patients who develop post-dural puncture headaches may remain symptomatic for some time and an epidural blood patch may be beneficial, following appropriate investigation.
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Int J Obstet Anesth · Nov 2019
Meta AnalysisCarbetocin reduces the need for additional uterotonics in elective caesarean delivery: a systematic review, meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis of randomised controlled trials.
Carbetocin has been found to be superior to oxytocin in terms of need for additional uterotonics and prevention of postpartum haemorrhage at caesarean delivery. However, this is based on combined data from labouring and non-labouring parturients and it remains unclear how effective carbetocin is in the purely elective setting. The aim of this review was to compare carbetocin to oxytocin in elective caesarean delivery. ⋯ Carbetocin is associated with a reduced need for additional uterotonics when compared with oxytocin at elective caesarean delivery. Standardisation of bleeding-related outcomes in studies is necessary to facilitate synthesis of data in future analyses.