• F J Mercier, G Boulay, M Ben Ayed, and D Benhamou.
• Département d'anesthésie-réanimation, hôpital Antoine-Béclère, Clamar, France.
• Ann Fr Anesth Reanim. 1996 Jan 1;15(3):263-5.

AbstractThe effect of adding a minidose of clonidine to intrathecal sufentanil during the early first stage of a painful labour was evaluated in this preliminary open-label, non-randomised trial. Group 1 received sufentanil 5 micrograms + clonidine 30 micrograms intrathecally (n = 10) and group 2 only intrathecal sufentanil 5 micrograms (n = 11). The two groups were not statistically different regard-ing age, weight, height, primiparity (67 vs 50%), oxytocin use (37 vs 60%), initial cervical dilation (m +/- DS: 2.9 +/- 1.1 vs 2.9 +/- 1 cm) and VAS pain scores (70 +/- 14 vs 68 +/- 19 mm). In group 1, analgesia was markedly prolonged with a reduced variability in duration: 146 +/- 27 min vs 95 +/- 44 min, (P = 0.006). VAS pain scores were: 14 +/- 20 vs 19 +/- 13, 1 +/- 3 vs 9 +/- 12, 0 vs 5 +/- 7, 48 +/- 12 vs 65 +/- 15, five and fifteen minutes after intrathecal injection, during maximum efficacy, and at the time additional analgesia was required, in group 1 and group 2, respectively. Analgesia evaluated with the VAS pain scores was better in group 1 compared with group 2 (P = 0.02) and decreased somewhat slower. Side effects, such as hypotension, pruritus and sedation, were not statistically different between groups. Nausea and motor blockade did not occur. In conclusion, the addition of a minidose (30 micrograms) of clonidine to sufentanil 5 micrograms given intrathecally seems to potentiate markedly the analgesia obtained during the early first stage of labour.

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