South African medical journal = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir geneeskunde
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Preservative-free morphine sulphate (0.5 mg in 0.5 ml normal saline) was injected intrathecally as the sole analgesic in 10 primiparous patients in the first stage of labour. Elective forceps were applied under pudendal block anaesthesia to assist the second stage of labour to prevent cephalad spread during bearing down, and so reduce the side-effects of morphine sulphate. ⋯ No side-effects of morphine sulphate were observed in any of the infants delivered. It is concluded that intrathecal morphine sulphate combined with elective forceps delivery provides a satisfactory alternative to epidural anaesthesia in those patients whose cardiovascular status demands preservation of a normal or elevated systemic vascular resistance.