Active clinical trials for "Labor Pain"

There are many methods used for the assessment of pain in the area of anesthesia including heart rate variability which reflects the influence of the autonomic nervous system on the heart. An original index, the ANI (Analgesia Nociception Index), quantifies pain during anesthesia. Obstetric epidural analgesia is particularly suited to evaluate ANI in conscious patients with a comparison of ANI with the measurement of pain by a visual analog scale (VAS). Evaluation of ANI is performed just before epidural catheter insertion and during the 10 first minutes after saline, sufentanil or lidocaine epidural administration.

To compare the effects of epidural versus combined spinal and epidural (CSE) anesthesia on the success of Trial of Labor After Cesarean (TOLAC).

This is a prospective, randomized, double blind study, in which a comparison of patient controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) of continuous background infusion with demand dose and demand only, using ropivacaine 0,15% and fentanyl 2μg/ml for pain relief in labor, is being investigated. The purpose of the study is the assessment of the efficacy of labor analgesia and maternal satisfaction. Written informed consent is obtained by all parturients. Non invasive monitor of blood pressure, heart rate, SpO2, ECG for the patient and a continuous monitoring of the fetal heart rate is being placed. The participants are randomized in two groups, both receiving the same drug (ropivacaine 0,15% and fentanyl 2μg/ml). Group 0 receives demand dose of 5 ml with lockout of 10 minutes. Group 1 receives background infusion of 5 ml/h and demand dose of 5 ml with lockout 10 minutes. All parturients have to be instructed to self administration of epidural bolus dose when they experience mild to moderate pain. Both parturient and anesthetist who conducts the study and treat breakthrough pain, are blind to group assignment. After the last suture, total volume of epidural infusions of PCEA, total infused drug of PCEA pump, number of delivered PCEA boluses and manual rescue doses are being calculated. Time of delivery, mode of delivery, Apgar scores, and overall maternal satisfaction scores, neonate pH and Hct of the patient (ABGS), as well as possible need of newborn cardiopulmonary resuscitation are also recorded.

Labor analgesia is an essential health caring procedure for women. However, epidural analgesia cannot be performed on all subjects for different contraindications, such as lower platelet counter, back infection at the puncture site, and fear of epidural injection etc. Therefore, intravenous analgesia is an alternative for such conditions. Given the influence of intravenous administration of drugs on fetus, the drug selection is very important. Remifentanil, a super-short efficacious opioid, can last for 3-4 minutes after injection, which is similar in both maternal and fetal environment. Thus the fetus-associated side effects would be less than other drugs. The investigators hypothesized that remifentanil would be a superior intravenous drug used with patient-controlled technique for labor analgesia.

Background: Episiotomy is performed in up to 30% of vaginal deliveries. Previously, pain treatment following episiotomy has relied on non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) as analgesics, whose use during breastfeeding remains controversial due of their transfer to the child through lactation. The aim of the study is to determine the effect of acupuncture on postpartal perineal pain following episiotomy. Methods: The study is designed as a prospective interventional randomized parallel single-center study to evaluate the effects of auricular acupuncture on pain relief after episiotomy. The population will encompass 60 patients that have had mediolateral episiotomy performed during vaginal delivery, with 29 receiving acupuncture therapy and 31 not receiving acupuncture therapy for pain relief. NSAID analgesic therapy will be made available per request.

This study evaluates the use of intermittent epidural boluses compared to continuous infusion in maintaining epidural pain relief in labor. The medicine solution used contains, in addition to bupivacain and fentanyl, adrenalin in both groups.

This study intends to carry out a prospective, randomized double-blind study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the combined implementation of Dural puncture epidural (DPE) technique and Programmed intermittent epidural bolus (PIEB) for labor analgesia.

Cesarean delivery is one of the most common surgical procedures, performed at an increasingly high rate. It is associated with intense postoperative pain that may hamper the rehabilitation process and interfere with patient satisfaction and care provided to the newborn. Therefore, control of perioperative pain with multimodal regimens using local anesthetic may be important in short- and long-term convalescence after surgery. Opioid-based regimens are the "gold standard" of cesarean delivery analgesia. However, spinal and epidural opioids have a ceiling effect. Wound infiltration with local anesthetics has been used widely in the multimodal approach of pain relief. Continuous wound infusion with local anesthetic through a multiorifice catheter increases the duration of action and efficacy of local surgical wound infiltration compared with a one-time wound injection of local anesthetic. After cesarean delivery, Local anesthetic continuous wound infusion would be associated with better reduction in pain scores when compared to intrathecal morphine . Therefore, an assessor and patient blinded, randomized study that aimed to compare the efficacy and side effects of these analgesia techniques was conducted.

The purpose of this study is to determine if non-invasive distracting devices (Virtual Reality headset) are more effective than the standard of care (i.e., no technology based distraction) for preventing anxiety and pain scores in women who are undergoing child laboring procedures. The anticipated primary outcome will be a reduction of pregnant females overall anxiety and pain scores before and after such procedure(s), including but not limited to epidural/combined spinal epidural (CSE), IV placement and/or labor.

Until recently, at Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH), epidural analgesia for labor pain was delivered with a pump that could only provide continuous infusion of the freezing medication in combination of pushes of medication activated by the patient, a technique called patient controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA). In the last decade or so, the literature has suggested that this continuous infusion of medication is not as effective as previously thought, and suggested that instead of continuous infusion we should use intermittent programmed pushes. The investigators now have devices that are able to do that. Programmed intermittent epidural bolus (PIEB) is a new technological advance based on the concept that boluses of freezing medication in the epidural space are superior to continuous epidural infusion (CEI). Recently the epidural pumps at MSH were reprogrammed to deliver bolus of medication at regular intervals (PIEB), in addition to what the patient can deliver herself (PCEA). Studies have shown that delivering analgesia in this manner prolong the duration of analgesia, reduce motor block, lower the incidence of breakthrough pain, improve maternal satisfaction and decrease local anesthetic consumption. The investigators have recently concluded a study at MSH using PIEB where excellent results were observed. However, in that study, some patients exhibited higher than necessary sensory blocks. The investigators believe that the technique can be optimized by using the same interval of the previous study with smaller volumes of the intermittent boluses. Optimizing the technique, may allow the investigators to be able to reduce even further the amount of medication used by each patient. The hypothesis of this study is that there is an optimal volume of the PIEB bolus at a fixed interval of 40 minutes of 0.0625% bupivacaine plus fentanyl 2mcg/ml that will provide 90% of women the necessary drug requirements during first stage of labor (EV90), thus avoiding breakthrough pain and need for PCEA or physician intervention. We hypothesize that this effective volume will be between 7 and 12 mL (6.6 mg/hr to 11.3 mg/hr of bupivacaine).