Women who control the dose of epidural anesthesia need less than the rest

In the US they have carried out a very interesting study in which the amount of epidural anesthesia that mothers need in the most effective way possible has been assessed: giving control of the amount of anesthetic to the same mothers.

It has been observed with said experiment that mothers who control the amount of epidural anesthesia they receive during labor and the same delivery use about 30% less that if the anesthetist applies the standard dose.

In the words of Michael Haydon, perinatologist of the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center in California:

We examined patient-controlled epidural anesthesia and found that they basically feel as comfortable as women who are under a continuous dose. In addition there was a thirty percent reduction in the amount of anesthesia used.

A sample of 270 women in their first pregnancy was used for the study. Three randomized groups were made, one of them was administered the standard dose of anesthetic in continuous infusion, the second a continuous dose, with an option to increase it, the patient controlling the dose and a last group in which all anesthesia ran In charge of the midwife.

The first group used an average of 74.9 mg of anesthesia during labor, the second used an average of 95.9 mg and the group that had absolute control used an average of 52.8 mg.

The patient control method consisted of a button that they could press when they felt they needed more. Obviously, for safety, they are devices programmed to provide a certain amount of anesthesia during controlled periods.

When evaluating the type of delivery between the three groups, no difference was observed in the duration of delivery or in the cesarean section. However, there was a tendency towards fewer births that demanded instrumental assistance, such as forceps or suction cup, in the group of moms who could completely decide how much anesthesia to receive.

These mothers did reveal more pain at the time of bidding, although When assessing the efficiency of anesthesia, they reported feeling satisfied with pain relief in general.

It seems that once again it is shown that offering control of childbirth processes to women tends to report benefits. The epidural, depending on when it is applied, usually delays deliveries and for this reason, the less used, the better.

It seems logical to think that when the woman is the one who has to relieve her own pain, she uses less anesthetic, since anesthetists, as a general rule, prefer to administer a little more to make sure there is no pain.

Video: Epidural Anesthesia: Safe, Effective Pain Relief During Labor (March 2024).