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Obstetric epidural analgesia with mixtures of bupivacaine, adrenaline and fentanyl
Author(s) -
YAU G.,
GREGORY M. A.,
GIN T.,
OH T. E.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2044.1990.tb14878.x
Subject(s) - bupivacaine , medicine , fentanyl , anesthesia , epinephrine , apgar score , pregnancy , fetus , biology , genetics
Summary We performed a double‐blind comparison of six solutions for epidural analgesia in 90 healthy Chinese women with uncomplicated pregnancies. Patients were randomly allocated to receive 10 ml bupivacaine 0.125% or 0.25% plain, bupivacaine 0.125% with adrenaline 1.25 μg/ml, bupivacaine 0.25% with adrenaline 2.5 μg/ml or the latter two solutions with added fentanyl 50 μg. Analgesia was unsatisfactory in 30% of the bupivacaine 0.125% groups without fentanyl. The addition of adrenaline, compared with bupivacaine 0.25% plain, gave faster onset and longer duration of analgesia (p < 0.05) which was similar to that found in both fentanyl groups. There were no differences in method of delivery or neonatal Apgar scores among groups. The least concentrated mixture that gave the best analgesia was the combination of bupivacaine 0.125% with adrenaline 1.25 μg/ml and fentanyl 50 μg.