COMPARISON OF EPIDURAL BOLUS ADMINISTRATION OF 0.25-PERCENT BUPIVACAINE AND 0.1-PERCENT BUPIVACAINE WITH 0.0002-PERCENT FENTANYL FOR ANALGESIA DURING LABOR

We have compared analgesia during labour provided by two epidural drug regimens, in a double-blind, randomized, controlled study. Group A re ceived 10-ml bolus doses of 0.1% bupivacaine with fentanyl 2 mu g ml(- 1) while group B received 0.25% plain bupivacaine 10 mi. Analgesia pro vided by both techniques was similar, but women in group A retained mo tor power in their legs and 60% chose to get out of bed. Duration of l abour and time from insertion of the epidural to delivery was similar in both groups, but in group A, duration of the second stage was signi ficantly shorter (P=0.0003; 95% confidence interval (CI) -1.17, -0.27 h) and the incidence of forceps delivery was lower (P=0.032). Maternal satisfaction with epidural analgesia, as assessed by VAS, was higher in group A (P=0.04; 95% CI -0.001, 10.001).