• Yvonne Lim, Wendy Teoh, and Alex T Sia.
• Department of Women's Anesthesia, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, 100 Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 229899. YVEL6@hotmail.com
• Anesth. Analg. 2006 Dec 1;103(6):1540-2.

BackgroundThe combined spinal epidural (CSE) technique has been shown to result in a higher sensory block than an equivalent single shot spinal (SSS) in women undergoing elective cesarean delivery. We tested whether this is true also in laboring women who may have variable epidural pressures.MethodsWe randomized 40 ASA I parturients in established labor for cesarean delivery into our double-blind study. Group S (n = 20) intrathecally received 2 mL of 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine by SSS and group CS received CSE (n = 20) of an equivalent dose of hyperbaric bupivacaine.ResultsWe found that similar maximal sensory blocks were achieved in both groups (group S: median T3 [min-max] T6-1 versus group CS: median T3 [min-max] T4-C7, P = 0.517).ConclusionAs compared with previous reports in nonlaboring parturients, the block characteristics of CSE in our study were indistinguishable from those of SSS in laboring parturients for cesarean delivery.

11 keywords...

hide…