Regional anesthesia and analgesia for labor and delivery.

From the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine (H.K.E., W.R.C.) and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (E.S.L.), Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston; and the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Eberhard-Karls University, Tübingen, Germany (H.K.E.). Address reprint requests to Dr. Camann at the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 75 Francis St., Boston, MA 02115, or at [email protected]. n 1847, the scottish obstetrician james simpson administered ether to a woman during labor to treat the pain of childbirth. He was impressed with the degree of analgesia associated with the use of the drug. Nevertheless, he expressed concern about the possible adverse effects of anesthesia: “It will be necessary to ascertain anesthesia’s precise effect, both upon the action of the uterus and on the assistant abdominal muscles; its influence, if any, upon the child; whether it has a tendency to hemorrhage or other complications.” 1