Korean J Anesthesiol.  2002 Nov;43(5):640-648. 10.4097/kjae.2002.43.5.640.

Comparison of Spinal and Epidural Anesthesia for a Cesarean Section and Postoperative Pain Control

• Park SY
• Song SO

• KMID: 2091737
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4097/kjae.2002.43.5.640

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Epidural anesthesia (EA) was a commonly used technique for a Cesarean section. Recently, because of the availability of non-cutting fine spinal needles, spinal anesthesia (SA) has gained an increase in interest. This study was performed to compare SA and EA for an elective Cesarean section and to investigate the efficacy of SA.
METHODS
Twenty healthy parturients were divided into two groups. Patients in the SA group (n = 10) were given 8 10 mg of 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine and 0.15 mg morphine intrathecally. Patients in the EA group (n = 10) received 20-22 ml of 2% lidocaine mixed with 1.5 mg morphine and 0.1 mg epinephrine. Time to start of operation, analgesic effects and side effects were compared between the two groups.
RESULTS
The time to reach the maximal level of sensory blockade and the time intervals to start the operation after an anesthetic injection were significantly shorter in the SA group (P<0.001, both). Incidence of hypotension was significantly higher in the SA group (P<0.05) and all of them improved by intravenous ephedrine. Side effects and postoperative analgesia were not significantly different between the two groups except backache occured more often in the EA group (P<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS
This data such as a greater time efficacy, similar analgesia and same incidences of side effects by morphine in the SA group, suggest that spinal anesthesia is a useful anesthetic method for a Cesarean section.

Keyword

Cesarean section; epidural; morphine; postoperative analgesia; spinal

MeSH Terms

Analgesia
Anesthesia, Epidural*
Anesthesia, Spinal
Back Pain
Bupivacaine
Cesarean Section*
Ephedrine
Epinephrine
Female
Humans
Hypotension
Incidence
Lidocaine
Morphine
Needles
Pain, Postoperative*
Pregnancy
Bupivacaine
Ephedrine
Epinephrine
Lidocaine
Morphine