The practice of obstetric anaesthesia and analgesia has been surveyed nationally and regionally in parts of Canada] ,2 the USA, 3 the UK 4 and various constituent parts, s-7 Sweden, 8,9 Finland 1° and Western Australia.ll The main purpose of our investigation was to obtain information regarding the availability and organization of epidural services in obstetric units throughout Switzerland. Ins...

BACKGROUND Intrathecal neostigmine produces analgesia but also nausea, limiting its utility. In contrast, epidural administration of neostigmine has been suggested to produce postoperative analgesia without nausea in nonpregnant patients. The purpose of this study was to examine the dose range for efficacy and side effects of epidural neostigmine in women at cesarean delivery receiving combined...

BACKGROUND Delirium is a common complication in elderly patients after surgery and associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Studies suggest that deep anesthesia and intense pain are important precipitating factors of postoperative delirium. Neuraxial block is frequently used in combination with general anesthesia for patients undergoing major thoracic and abdominal surgery. Compared w...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of preemptive thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA) comparing conventional postoperative epidural analgesia on thoracotomy. MATERIAL AND METHODS Forty-four patients were randomized in to two groups (preemptive: Group P, control: Group C). Epidural catheter was inserted in all patients preoperatively. In Group P, epidural analges...

BACKGROUND Different additives have been used to prolong regional blockade. We designed a prospective, randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial to evaluate the effect of dexamethasone added to bupivacaine-fentanyl on the duration of postoperative analgesia via epidural catheterization. METHODS Seventy two adult patients scheduled for elective abdominal or thoracic surgery under epi...

BACKGROUND Evidence on the analgesic effectiveness of nitrous oxide for labor pain is limited. Even fewer studies have looked at patient satisfaction. Although nitrous oxide appears less effective than neuraxial analgesia, it is unclear whether labor analgesic effectiveness is the most important factor in patient satisfaction. We sought to compare the relationship between analgesic effectivenes...

ANESTHESIOLOGY is a dynamic specialty that has adapted well to demands from patients to improve the quality of their care and pressures from the healthcare industry to achieve this in a cost-effective fashion. The aging of the population undergoing surgical procedures, increasing proportion of surgical procedures performed in an outpatient setting, and emphasis on cost containment have led clin...

A 23-year-old primigravid patient who received epidural analgesia for pain of labour presented with persistent, apparently irremediable, unilateral analgesia. Computerized axial tomo-epidurography demonstrated absence of circumferential spread due to lateral placement of the catheter. Transforaminal escape of contrast medium into the paravertebral area had occurred and anterior and posterior mi...

Morbidity after paediatric epidural anaesthesia is unusual. We report a case of transient motor nerve root block in an eleven years old girl receiving epidural analgesia postoperatively following anterior instrumented spinal fusion for scoliosis. The epidural catheter was placed within the T8-T9 inter-space under general anaesthesia. Postoperatively the child developed unilateral paradoxical ch...

BACKGROUND Whether epidural analgesia for labor prolongs the active-first and second labor stages and increases the risk of vacuum-assisted delivery is a controversial topic. Our study was conducted to answer the question: does lumbar epidural analgesia with lidocaine affect the progress of labor in our obstetric population? METHOD 395 healthy, nulliparous women, at term, presented in spontan...