BACKGROUND Pain relief during labour is a topic of major interest in the Netherlands. Epidural analgesia is considered to be the most effective method of pain relief and recommended as first choice. However its uptake by pregnant women is limited compared to other western countries, partly as a result of non-availability due to logistic problems. Remifentanil, a synthetic opioid, is very suitab...

OBJECTIVE Many studies have compared different methods of postoperative pain management in abdominal laparotomy patients; however, the conclusions have been inconsistent and controversial. This study aimed to compare the pain scores and complications of patients who underwent cytoreductive surgery for ovarian cancer and used either patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) or patient-control...

OBJECTIVE This multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled study evaluated the efficacy and side effects of parecoxib during patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) after abdominal hysterectomy. METHODS A total of 240 patients who were scheduled for elective abdominal hysterectomy under combined spinal-epidural anesthesia received PCEA plus postoperative intravenous parecoxib 40 mg or sa...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The advantages of patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) for delivery compared with continuous epidural analgesia (CEA) have been a point of interest in research obstetric anaesthesia for more than two decades. The aim of this single blind randomized controlled study was to evaluate the incidence of motor block and ability to perform partial knee flexion in women...