International journal of obstetric anesthesia
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Int J Obstet Anesth · May 2018
Observational StudyUse of epidural clonidine for the management of analgesia in the opioid addicted parturient on buprenorphine maintenance therapy: an observational study.
Management of labor analgesia and post-cesarean delivery pain is challenging in the patient taking buprenorphine as opioid addiction maintenance therapy. We observed whether substituting clonidine for fentanyl in an epidural solution would provide adequate analgesia for labor and after cesarean delivery. ⋯ The combination of clonidine and bupivacaine appears effective in parturients on buprenorphine therapy for opioid addiction maintenance. As study numbers were small and several factors were not examined, further confirmatory research is needed, including to determine the ideal dose of epidural clonidine in this setting.