Postoperative Epidural Pain Control Evaluation of 1,054 Patients Undergoing Cesarean Section

Yang, Soo Jung; Yoon, Oh Joon; Park, Kyung Soo; Lee, Jae Heu

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Quality of postoperative care may be improved by management of postoperative pain. Epidural anesthesia and analgesia have several advantages over general anesthesia and parenteral analgesics in managing the postoperative pain. We retrospectively reviewed records of obstetrical patients who underwent the cesarean sections under epidural anesthesia to evaluate perioperative analgesic use, side effects, and complications.
METHODS
All patients received epidural anesthesia consisting of 0.25% bupivacaine, 2% lidocaine and 100 microgram fentanyl, followed by epidural analgesia with 0.1% bupivacaine and 12.5 microgram/ml fentanyl at rate of 2 ml/hr for 48 hours. Patients records were reviewed for: medications administered for pain relief, incidence of nausea and vomiting and pruritus, and presence of respiratory or cardiovascular depression.
RESULTS
Over 18 months, 1,054 patients' records were reviewed. Average age was 27.8 years (18-43 years). 768 patients (72.9%) received no additional drugs for the pain relief. Intramuscular analgesics, ketoprofens, were one time administered to 247 patients (23.4%), 39 patients (3.7%) received two more dosages. The time of administration was 8.3+/-4.3 hours postoperatively. Antiemetics, for example, low-dose droperidol, were administerd one time for 160 patients (15.2%), 5 patients (0.5%) received two or more administrations. The medication was administered 5.1+/-4.2 hours postoperatively. Drugs for relief of pruritus, low-dose naloxone, were administered one time for 108 patients (10.2%), 10 patients (0.9%) received 2 or more dosages. The time of administration was 6.3+/-4.2 hours postoperatively. None of the patients experienced cardiovascular nor respiratory (<8 breath/min) depression.
CONCLUSION
Postoperative continuous epidural analgesia in combination with bupivacaine and fentanyl is an effective method of providing postoperative analgesia with low incidence of side effects.