Advances in labor analgesia
Beilin, Y.
Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine new York 69(1-2): 38-44
2002
ISSN/ISBN: 0027-2507 PMID: 11832969 Document Number: 545699
Approximately two-thirds of all women in the United States receive analgesia for labor and delivery. The ideal labor analgesic technique would confer complete pain relief without side effects to either the mother or the neonate. The analgesic technique would not cause any lower extremity motor blockade nor interfere with the progress or course of labor and would be sufficiently flexible to produce anesthesia for forceps or cesarean deliveries. Modern obstetric analgesia techniques and medications come close to achieving these goals. The following article will review current labor analgesia techniques and medications used during labor and delivery.