International journal of obstetric anesthesia
-
Int J Obstet Anesth · Nov 2019
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyA triple-blinded randomized trial comparing spinal morphine with posterior quadratus lumborum block after cesarean section.
What did they do?
Tamura and team randomised 176 elective CS patients to spinal anaesthesia with or without morphine, in addition to placebo or ultrasound-guided quadratus lumborum block (QLB).
And they found
Only intrathecal morphine significantly improved analgesia, not QLB whether performed with or without spinal morphine. Thus QLB probably does not improve analgesia further beyond current best practices.
Not so fast...
While this modest-sized RCT concluded that QLB did not improve pain after caesarean section, the conclusion is i) somewhat inconsistent with earlier studies that did show benefit, and ii) the adjuvant analgesic regime1 used may not be applicable to practice outside Japan.
summary
-
The researchers administered the remaining 90 mcg fentanyl IV, along with droperidol 1.25 mg and acetaminophen/paracetamol 15mg/kg after baby delivery. An NSAID (diclofenac 50mg) was only provided when breakthrough pain was requested. ↩
-
-
Int J Obstet Anesth · Nov 2019
Review Meta AnalysisDifficult epidural placement in obese and non-obese pregnant women - A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Maternal obesity increases the risk of epidural failure (OR 1.8) and difficult insertion requiring multiple attempts (OR 2.2).
pearl -
Int J Obstet Anesth · Nov 2019
Review Meta AnalysisInduction opioids for caesarean section under general anaesthesia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.
Remifentanil and alfentanil effectively reduce the pressor response to intubation for general anaesthesia cesarean section, without depressing neonatal Apgar scores.
pearl