International journal of obstetric anesthesia
-
Int J Obstet Anesth · Jul 2006
ReviewA survey of labor patient-controlled epidural anesthesia practice in California hospitals.
Patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) offers many advantages over continuous epidural infusions for labor analgesia including fewer physician interventions, improved analgesia and satisfaction, and reduced local anesthetic doses. However, anesthesiologists have been slow to adopt this technique, first described in 1988. No previous studies have evaluated specific labor patient-controlled epidural analgesia practices in the United States. The aim of this study was to determine labor epidural and patient-controlled epidural analgesia practices among California hospitals. ⋯ Despite the potential advantages of patient-controlled epidural analgesia over continuous epidural infusions for labor analgesia, patient-controlled epidural analgesia has not been widely adopted in California hospitals. Education regarding this technique is needed to encourage its increased use.
-
Int J Obstet Anesth · Jul 2006
Randomized Controlled TrialIncisional and epidural analgesia after caesarean delivery: a prospective, placebo-controlled, randomised clinical study.
This study evaluated efficacy, safety and patient satisfaction with incisional analgesia with a subfascial catheter compared to epidural analgesia for pain relief following caesarean section. ⋯ Incisional local analgesia via a subfascial catheter provided satisfactory pain relief with patient satisfaction comparable to that seen with epidural analgesia. This technique may be a good alternative to the more invasive epidural technique following caesarean section as a component of multimodal pain management.