(Anesth Analg. 2017;124(2):560–569)
Epidural (EPL) and combined spinal epidural (CSE) are commonly used and effective labor analgesia neuraxial techniques. EPL has minimal adverse effects, but has a slow onset time and may result in insufficient sacral spread/patchy sensory blockade. In contrast, CSE has rapid onset and excellent sacral coverage but has greater risk of adverse effects. The dural puncture epidural (DPE) technique (passing a spinal needle through the EPL needle, puncturing the dura but not injecting medication into the intrathecal space) has been shown to improve caudal spread of analgesia compared with the EPL technique, without the side effects seen with CSE. In the present study, the authors determined whether or not overall analgesia characteristics and side effects would favor the DPE technique, and hypothesized that onset of labor analgesia is most rapid with CSE, followed by DPE and EPL.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.