Locoregional Anesthesia Comments in the Obstetric Patient and Eventual Complications

Abstract

Labor pain is associated with increased stress response and when it is excessive, it may lead to hypoxemia and fetal acidosis. The most important factor in obstetric analgesia is the desire for pain relief by the patient and neuraxial analgesia is the mainstay procedure in labor and in anesthesia for cesarean delivery. Continuous lumbar epidural analgesia is the mainstay of neuraxial labor analgesia. There are other methods, such as intrathecal block or combined spinal-epidural, that can be useful in specific cases. Despite being the safest and most effective method, the epidural labor analgesia may have some complications. Other therapies include bilateral paracervical block and pudendal block, which provide rapid onset analgesia (2–5 min). Although useful, they require training and are risky in cases of placental insufficiency or prematurity.