View clinical trials related to Labor Pain.
Filter by:For most women, the most significant pain they will experience is the pain associated with childbirth. Up to one-third of women experience "back labor", this typically occurs when the fetus assumes varying degrees of malposition, especially the occiput posterior position, and causes additional constant pressure against the maternal spine and pelvis. "Back labor" presents as constant pain, that occurs even between contractions. It is often difficult to manage, by the patient, the obstetrician, and the anesthesiologist, and may increase the rate of instrumental and caesarian delivery. Epidural anesthesia/analgesia is the most common and effective intervention used to help women cope with labor pain. Dilute concentrations of local anesthetic and opioid provide complete analgesia for most women. Some women, however, have breakthrough pain, often due to "back labor," and require more concentrated drug solutions. This increases the side effects associated with these drugs (e.g., hypotension, pruritus, motor block), thus treatment of this pain poses a challenge for the anesthesiologist and the obstetrician. Sterile water injections (SWI) are a simple and well-established method of managing labor pain among midwives. This intervention was first used to alleviate pain associated with kidney stones, and was introduced to obstetrics in the 1970s. Using a syringe, small amounts of sterile water is deposited subcutaneously near the sacral area. The sterile water causes osmotic and mechanical irritation resulting in a brief (15-30 second) and significant stinging sensation. The onset of pain relief follows almost immediately and may last for up to two hours. The procedure can be repeated a number of times. Sterile water for pain management is most often administered using four intracutaneous injections: two sites lateral to the lumbosacral spine and two sites 2-3 cm below and 1-2 cm medial to the original two injection sites. 0.1 mL of sterile water is injected between the dermal layers to raise a small bleb on the skin surface at each of the four sites. In labor, the injections are administered sequentially during a uterine contraction, with the series of four injections, performed two at a time, completed within 20-30 seconds. The investigators hypothesize that the use of sterile water injections in women with neuraxial analgesia with breakthrough pain will result in decreased local anesthetic requirements and increase patient satisfaction.
There are many methods used for the assessment of pain in the area of anesthesia including heart rate variability which reflects the influence of the autonomic nervous system on the heart. An original index, the ANI (Analgesia Nociception Index), quantifies pain during anesthesia. Obstetric epidural analgesia is particularly suited to evaluate ANI in conscious patients with a comparison of ANI with the measurement of pain by a visual analog scale (VAS). Evaluation of ANI is performed just before epidural catheter insertion and during the 10 first minutes after saline, sufentanil or lidocaine epidural administration.
The purpose of this study is to determine the ideal dosage of intrathecal morphine for intra and post partum analgesia, while minimizing the side effect profile.
An attempt is being made to see if by injecting a set volume of sterile saline into the epidural space during the treatment of labor pain with a combined spinal/epidural (CSE) increases the amount of pain relief obtained and makes the labor analgesia lasts longer. Subjects are in the study from the time their CSE is placed until they request additional pain medication from the spinal dose of numbing medicine wearing off.
The investigators hypothesis is that spinal tetracaine with fentanyl and epinephrine used for CSE labor analgesia volume will last a significantly longer period of time that that of spinal bupivacaine with fentanyl. After informed consent is obtained for the study, subjects meeting criteria when analgesia is requested will be randomized to receive a combined spinal-epidural containing either tetracaine 2 mg with fentanyl and epinephrine or bupivacaine 2 mg with fentanyl and epinephrine.
Fetal heart rate patterns are an important parameter in the diagnosis of non-reassuring fetal status. Combined-spinal epidural analgesia is a method of initiating labor analgesia used by approximately 90% of the parturients at Prentice Women's Hospital. Optimizing the variables which could affect fetal heart rate patterns at the time of initiation of analgesia, such as fluid administration and oxytocin management, could help us provide better care for our patients and their fetuses. Hypotheses: The combination of fluid administration and lower doses of oxytocin administration will have fewer adverse fetal heart rate changes in the first 60 minutes following initiation of labor analgesia.