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A postal survey of the management of the second stage of labour with epidural analgesia was carried out to determine current policies in the Great Britain and to detect which course was most likely to produce a normal vaginal delivery. Despite the recommendations of the major textbooks of obstetric anaesthesia that the epidural should be kept topped-up until delivery only 34 per cent of respondents did so. There was no significant difference in the normal delivery rate between those hospitals where the practice was to keep the epidural topped-up and those allowing it to wear off. We conclude that analgesia should be maintained until the delivery is complete smce allowing the epidural to wear off did not seem to increase the spontaneous delivery rate.

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