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More Women Now Choose Pain
Relief During Labor
More women are opting for some type of pain relief during
their labor and delivery, according to a study by the
Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Colorado
at Denver and Health Sciences Center.
A survey of 378 hospitals showed that only 6 percent to 12
percent of women did not request pain relief, compared to 11
percent to 33 percent nine years prior.
Regional analgesia, including epidural, spinal or combined
epidural-spinal techniques, accounted for 76 percent of the
anesthesia services provided in the larger hospitals and for
57 percent in smaller hospitals.
There are two types of regional pain-relieving drugs -
analgesics and anesthetics. Analgesia - pain relief without
total loss of feeling or muscle movement - is typically
administered to women in labor. This treatment blocks pain
by numbing the nerves around the spinal or epidural space
that encases the spinal cord. Anesthesia blocks all feeling
and movement.
In the past, doctors debated the safety of using an epidural
during early labor in first-time mothers. But newer research
shows that those who are concerned about receiving pain
relief during early labor may be able to rest easy.
Spinal-epidural analgesia during early labor does not
increase the cesarean delivery rate in first-time mothers,
according to a study by Dr. Cynthia A. Wong, associate
professor of anesthesiology at Northwestern University
Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
This study also found that analgesia via combined
spinal-epidural techniques resulted in better pain relief
and a shorter labor when compared to pain medications
administered by other routes such as intravenous or
intramuscular injections.
"Mothers have come to expect the kind of pain relief
provided by regional techniques," said Dr. Brenda Bucklin,
associate professor of anesthesiology at the University of
Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. "With recent
studies showing that having this type of anesthesia early in
labor will not increase chances of a cesarean delivery, I
think their popularity will continue."
For more information on pain relief during labor and
delivery, visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists
Web site at www.asahq.org.
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