Le Journal médical libanais. The Lebanese medical journal
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We relate the experience of 506 consecutive deliveries under epidural analgesia in the same hospital, by the same obstetrician (JSS). 336 patients delivered without epidural analgesia during the same period. In the epidural group (n = 506), 93 patients had a normal spontaneous vaginal delivery, 357 had a low forceps, 22 had a mid-forceps, 4 had an assisted breech extraction, and 30 delivered by cesarean section. There were 24 cases (out of 506) of significant hypotension; all of them responded to an intravenous bolus of ephedrine. ⋯ Eleven newborns in the epidural group had one-minute Apgar scores between 4 and 6, but they all had excellent Apgar scores at five minutes. None had a one-minute Apgar score below 4. We conclude that epidural analgesia is a safe and highly effective method of pain relief during labor.