BACKGROUND The effect of epidural analgesia on nulliparous labor and delivery remains controversial. In addition, pregnancy and delivery have long been considered risk factors in the genesis of stress urinary incontinence (SUI). We sought to determine the effect of epidural analgesia and timing of administration on labor course and postpartum SUI. METHODS Five hundred and eighty three nullipa...

BACKGROUND Combined spinal-epidural analgesia provides rapid-onset analgesia with minimal motor block, but it is a more invasive technique than epidural analgesia and the risk of complications may be increased. This study compared the safety and effect on delivery of combined spinal-epidural and epidural analgesia in labor. METHODS A retrospective observational study was performed. Data were ...

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors associated with whether a woman received an epidural in labor and to determine the main source used to obtain information about labor epidurals. Methods. Over a one-month period, we surveyed all patients who labored, the day after their delivery. We used multiple logistic regression to identify potential predictive factors after...

BACKGROUND Retrospective studies have associated early epidural analgesia with cesarean delivery, but prospective studies do not demonstrate a causal relationship. This suggests that there are other variables associated with early epidural analgesia that increase the risk of cesarean delivery. This study was undertaken to determine the characteristics associated with early epidural analgesia in...

BACKGROUND Epidural administration of dexamethasone has been suggested for pain control after minor orthopedic surgery. This study was conducted to assess its efficacy after such surgery, combined or not to IV dipyrone, IV parecoxibe or their combination. METHODS 91 patients were randomly assigned to seven groups. Patients were submitted to spinal bupivacaine anesthesia combined to epidural a...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Spinal epidural abscesses are major complications of epidural anesthesia, and their MR features have been reported. In patients receiving continuous infusion via an epidural catheter, MR findings may mimic those of spinal epidural abscess in the absence of infection. The purpose of this study was to assess the spinal MR findings associated with continuous epidural anesthe...

BACKGROUND Epidrum® is a recently developed, air operated, loss of resistance (LOR) device for identifying the epidural space. We investigated the usefulness of Epidrum® by comparing it with the conventional LOR technique for identifying the epidural space. METHODS One hundred eight American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I or II patients between the ages of 17 and 68 year...

The use of pressure waves to confirm the correct position of the epidural needle has been described in several domestic species and proposed as a valid alternative to standard methods, namely, control radiographic exam and fluoroscopy. The object of this retrospective clinical study was to evaluate the sensitivity of the epidural pressure waves as a test to verify the correct needle placement i...

Epidural anesthesia is one of the preferred modes of analgesia intra- and postoperative in limb surgery. Although considered very safe, serious complications can occur with 0.1-1 per 10,000 epidural injections. We present a case of a patient who experienced an acute lumbar epidural hematoma after epidural anesthesia.